


Once Upon a Time in the Clouds

by Fatale (femme)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21938869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: Alec was the child of superheroes, going to a school to help him with his powers. This was where he met Magnus, the most powerful kid at the academy, who everyone feared.The only problem was that Alec didn't actually have superpowers - unless you counted being super awkward.---a sky high au
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 199
Kudos: 1021
Collections: Suggested Good Reads





	1. Chapter 1

  
  


Alec boarded the bus nervously, Izzy shoving in close behind him. His third year at Sky High Academy for Superheros and the Supernaturally Gifted was off to a banging start: He was being manhandled by his little sister.

His stomach gave a displeased little lurch. Alec hadn’t been able to eat much that morning, he was so nervous. He barely managed to choke down three bowls of oatmeal, a short stack of pancakes, a half dozen slices of bacon, and two glasses of orange juice. It was about half of his usual intake and a third of what Izzy and Jace ate, but Izzy needed it for her super speed and Jace needed the extra calories for his super strength, which he regularly expended in stupid ways just to be a showoff. No one _needed_ the family car moved three times in the driveway, Jace, that was why the damn thing had wheels in the first place.

It wasn’t Alec’s diet that was the problem, though. The real problem was that Alec had never shown the least inclination towards anything super, except, according to Izzy, being super lame.

It used to be a source of great teasing from both Izzy and Jace as they began to manifest their powers early, and his mom would smile indulgently and tell them that all the “late bloomers” were the most powerful of all. All Lightwoods were powerful; every Super knew it all around the world. Every Lightwood. Except for Alec.

Eventually, the good-natured teasing stopped as Maryse and Robert began shooting him poorly-concealed looks of concern. And Izzy and Jace started being nice to him. Nothing worried Alec more than his siblings being nice to him.

For the past year, Alec had been getting up early every morning to try to lift the family car – an ugly wood-paneled affair, all the better to blend in with the Normies surrounding them – then running as fast as he could. Failing to show any inclination towards super speed or strength, out of desperation, Alec had climbed to the top of the shed and jumped off, eyes closed, silently praying to either take flight or for a swift death so he wouldn’t have to deal with explaining how he literally broke his ass jumping off a roof.

Neither happened, but the bush he landed on never was the same. And neither was Alec, really. His body might have survived the fall intact, but something inside Alec shattered beyond repair.

He remembered laying on the ground spread-eagle, winded and gasping for air, the edges of his vision going dark. It was a beautiful day, bright blue sky dotted with wispy lazily trailing clouds. He’d often stared at those very clouds and wondered what kind of hero he’d be. That was before it ever occurred to him that he could be no kind of hero at all.

Alec had stopped his stupid experiments and accepted his fate: to be a Normie in a family of Supers.

But the day he’d been dreading had finally arrived. Alec shifted his backpack on his shoulder nervously.

From behind him, Izzy pushed him impatiently again. “Pick a seat, dorkus.” It wasn’t fair; everyone knew that Izzy had super speed. Jace could lift a car without breaking a sweat. Maryse could fly and Robert could move objects with his mind. Alec had the dubious ability to eat a shocking amount on ice cream after eating a huge dinner. There was that. His mom told him not to worry, that plenty of boys were late bloomers. Actually, his dad hadn't even shown an inkling of superpowers until he went to take his placement test, and then picked up the entire junior class with the power of his brain.

“I’m sure everything will be okay,” Izzy said, sounding unconvinced. She used the same tone of voice to assure Jace that Clary was as into him as he was to her.

Alec slid into a seat in the back next to Jace, and Izzy scooted in next to him, kicking her backpack beneath the seat. They were getting too big for this, but no one suggested they stop. The doors closed with a hiss and the bus groaned with the metallic squeal of wheels. Alec looked around at his classmates; most were familiar faces but some were new. The bus pulled onto the street into a line of identical busses. There was nothing special about theirs – at least, not yet. The bus made two more stops and then as soon as the doors hissed shut a final time, a lock clicked loudly in place, and the driver announced over the pa system, "Next stop, Sky High Academy! Please keep your hands and feet clear of the aisle. And don’t any of you brats dare think about opening your window unless you can fly! In that case, feel free.”

Large wings shot from the sides of the bus as the bus rolled faster and faster down the empty residential street. A bird squawked and flapped out of the way. Maybe Normies could see them, but they’d forget the moment they looked away. It was a neat bit of magic that no one could quite explain how it worked. There were a lot of things like that in his world, things that just were, things not to be questioned. No one knew quite how the first Super came about, either.

Izzy kicked up her feet, resting them on the back of the seat in front of her. A blonde girl with large arcing wings shot her a dirty look that Izzy ignored. Her second year and this was already old hat to her. “Hey, cheer up, Alec,” Izzy said, taking a loud bite of her apple, “Batman didn’t have any superpowers.”

Alec watched the clouds rush by his window. No matter how many times he saw it, he never got tired of the view, of the feeling of being absolutely weightless and free, extraordinary in a world filled with the mundane.

“Batman was a handsome billionaire,” Jace pointed out.

“Oh yeah?” Izzy shrugged. “I was never a fan of DC.”

\---

The first thing they had to do was report to the gymnasium where Professor Aldertree would be evaluating their powers and putting them in the superhero or sidekick track of classes. Before junior year, everyone had a similar schedule, but only just barely. Everyone knew who had the alpha powers and who didn’t, and they tended to be treated accordingly. There was a natural division that only became more pronounced when it became official. Superheros did not sit at the same lunch table as the sidekicks. So far, Alec had managed to trade off the awe of his last name and the wild superpowers of his siblings, who helped deflect for him. If he was running late to class, Izzy would hold him and run him to his classroom door, drop him off, and take off to her own class, his classmates none the wiser. In the absence of solid proof, his classmates seemed to assume her powers were his.

But now was the moment of truth, and Alec was sweating all the way down to his striped gym socks.

A girl named Jessica Hawkeblue had huge avian wings and demonstrated her ability to fly by spreading her wings and doing a few lazy laps around the gym above their heads. “Hero!” Coach Aldertree boomed.

A boy named Raj had the ability to sweat excessively.

 _Ewwww_ , the whole class groaned.

“Sidekick,” Aldertree said dismissively. He could raise his voice to a sonic boom, but he didn’t bother to use it for sidekicks. They were too weak to handle it.

“Lightwood!” he called out, and it was as if time slowed down. Alec looked up at the high cathedral-style windows. Some students didn’t like Sky High Academy. There were always rumors that circulated each year that the building used to be a tuberculosis sanitarium or a floating prison for the world’s most dangerous criminals, but Alec didn’t pay them much attention. He’d always loved it here. This place had felt like home.

Time seemed to snap back into place and, heart hammering, Alec stepped towards the front. Now was the time for any latent impressive superpowers to make themselves evident, but Alec held very little real hope.

“What can you do?” Aldertree boomed. Twenty pairs of eyes swung towards him and Alec felt himself sweat even more under the added scrutiny. Perhaps he shared Raj’s gross power and he could drown himself in a pool of his own sweat.

“I don’t know,” Alec said quietly.

“Run,” Aldertree ordered, giving him a push.

Alec did a lazy lap around the gym, knowing he was fast but didn’t have super speed.

“Maybe,” Aldertree said, frowning, “you’ve got super strength?” He was beginning to sound worried. Welcome to Alec’s world, folks. All anxiety, all day! “Go, lift that car.”

“I can’t,” Alec replied. Even to his own ears, he sounded miserable, resigned.

“Can you fly?”

“No,” Alec said. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He’d even settle for Raj’s power of moistness right about now.

“Why don’t you try to teleport?”

“I can’t.”

“Can you do anything at all?” Aldertree definitely sounded desperate now.

“No,” Alec said, staring down at his shoes. The left one was untied, the shoelace trailing on the shiny wooden floor. The room had gone silent, and Alec could feel a dozen horrified eyes on him.

“Maybe you’re just a late bloomer,” Aldertree said, sounding uneasy.

Alec could tell what he was thinking. What if they’d accidentally let a Normie into Sky High? 

If Alec had a nickel for every time someone had said that to him—well, he’d have at least a couple of bucks.

“Maybe,” Alec agreed, face burning.

“We’ll put you in the sidekick class,” Aldertree said, still looking discomfited. He brightened. “I’m sure you’ll get your powers soon and we can move you right up to the hero’s class where you belong.”

“Yeah,” Alec echoed, “where I belong.”

Who even knew where that was anymore?

\---

Raj made room for him at the front of the class. Pulling his books off the desk next to him, but Alec ignored the silent offer in favor of slinking towards the black of the classroom, ignoring the mostly curious looks and occasional smirk. In less than twenty-four awful hours, Alec had fallen from a presumed hero from one of the most prestigious families to....sidekick.

Alec slumped further down into his chair. The teacher was Mr. Hodge, apparently a sidekick from “back in the day” who used to be “kind of a big deal,” at least, according to Hodge.

“Being a sidekick is an honorable calling,” Hodge said, perched on the edge of his desk as if ready for a signal that would never again come. “Some of us are Robin. Not everyone can be Batman, or no one would need saving and there wouldn’t be any nobility at all to our calling.”

Alec wasn’t really listening. Instead, he was watching the girl next to him, who was wearing a cool leather jacket covered in band patches and pins. Oddly, on the corner of her desk was a potted vine, and as Alec watched, the girl waved her hand in a circular motion and the vine twitched, leaves unfurling and started growing towards her, following the motions of her hand.

“Holy shit,” Alec breathed s, and though he hadn’t meant to speak out loud, the girl – Maia, he learned – seemed to hear him if her immediate fist and glare sent his way was any indication. The plant on her desk shriveled in unhappiness.

Alec choked back the need to apologize to the plant and turned back toward the teacher.

\---

Somehow, Alec made it through the rest of the day without expiring from embarrassment. He grabbed his lunch from the serving line, congealed spaghetti and meatballs and cold garlic bread, and sat at his usual table with Izzy, Jace, and Clary. Clary was a new student that showed up at the end of the year when out of nowhere, she’d teleported to Paris while watching a movie in her class. Though rare, it did happen: some Normie would randomly develop powers.

Of course, it would be Fray and of course, she’d have the coolest superpower of them all.

Alec took a savage bite of his garlic bread.

“Alec, it’s gonna be okay,’ Izzy said, pushing her massive plate of french fries towards him. Alec was too sad to eat; he only managed a few dozen.

“I know,” Alec said between enormous bites, even though he couldn’t see how that was possible. He was royally fucked, dommed to be a lame powerless sidekick for the rest of his life, the action figure that ended up in the dollar bin after Christmas until Alec was too old and fat to fit into his spandex underoos and would spend the rest of his life recounting better days to horrified captive teenagers. Not that he had given it much thought.

Alec was too busy glaring at his food to see who passed by, but the silence at the table caught his attention. He quit sullenly staring at his pasta and followed their gazes to the corner of the room where another new student sat. Magnus Bane.

Magnus was a new student last year that mostly kept to himself. No one knew much about him other than the rampant speculation. The rumor was that he was a transfer from some villain school overseas. The only thing Alec knew for sure was that his stomach did a funny little flip if he thought about Magnus for too long.

“They say his dad is a literal demon,” Izzy said, voice lowered, still casting furtive glances at his table.

“Really?” Clary asked. “I heard that his dad accidentally killed his mom and sent Magnus away in grief because he couldn’t stand the sight of him.”

“I heard that he can start fires with his mind,” Jace added.

“Bullshit,” Izzy hissed. “He’d have to have private lessons then.”

“I heard it from a very reputable source,” Jace said at Izzy’s raised eyebrow. “Kaelie told Meliorne, who told Simon, who told me.”

“What a wild power,” Clary said. “Oh, hey, I heard that guy that sweats a lot finally got placed as a sidekick. Can you imagine having him for a sidekick?”

Alec could feel his shoulders tense. He started breathing harder, waiting for the blow.

Izzy shuddered. “Horrible. Almost as useless as having a sidekick with no powers at all.”

And there it was: Alec stopped breathing. He closed his eyes and felt the world tilt. It only seemed appropriate; after all, everything he had thought he’d known about the world had fallen away today, including his place in it.

Everything was temporary. Nothing lasted forever. There endeth the lesson.

Before he knew it, he was standing, his lunch tray clattering to the floor. He knew he was causing a scene, but he was beyond caring. He couldn't breathe; the world was going gray around the edges.

Instantly, he could hear Izzy’s panicked apologies, but he was already moving, mumbling something about needing to be alone.

How he managed to get outside, he would never be able to figure out. It was as if time sped up and Alec was leaning against the brick wall, staring up at the gray sky, remembering his first day at Sky High. He remembered his exhilaration, his utter belief that this was the destiny he had been searching for. The answer to his life’s questions. The sky blurred and went spotted; his pulse roared in his ears, and Alec balled up his fist, shaking with the effort of it.

“Breathe,” a voice said.

“What?’ Alec managed to gasp out. He couldn't feel his face, his eyes burned.

“You can,” the voice insisted, and a warm hand landed on the back of his neck. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.”

Alec, eyes closed, focused on that steadying point of warmth on the back of his neck, and he forced himself to slow his breathing, taking painful breath after painful breath. It felt like breathing razors, but the black started receding from the edges of his vision and he slid down the side of the wall, shirt rucked up in the back. “What happened,” he mumbled, hot forehead cradled in his arms.

“Panic attack,” the voice answered.

Alec looked up shakily at his savior and met the eyes of Magnus Bane. He felt his face drain of color. “Jesus!”

Magnus’ eyes, which had been so close and so concerned, immediately grew guarded as he took a step back. “I’ll leave you alone then.”

“No!” Alec almost shouted at Magnus’ turned back.

Magnus stopped, turning to stare at Alec, unsure.

“How did you know what it was?” Alec asked. His voice came out scratchy and he coughed to clear his throat. This high up, the air was a bit thin.

Magnus hesitated, then said, “I used to have them. A long time ago.”

“Sorry,” Alec said.

Magnus shrugged, but the line of his shoulders was tense. “S’okay.”

It seemed like a lot to ask, but Alec didn’t want to be alone. Not again. “Can you – can you stay here with me? For just a little while?”

Magnus looked surprised, but Alec assumed very few people asked Magnus for his company. There was something pretty sad about that.

“I guess,” Magnus said and slid down the wall next to him, sitting cross-legged. His nails were painted black and there was a deep purple streak that ran through the front of his black hair. People thought it made Magnus look scary. Alec thought it was beautiful.

“Thank you,” Alec said quietly.

“You’re welcome,” Magnus said. His knee knocked up against Alec’s. It was getting hard to breathe again, but Alec didn’t think it had anything to do with panic this time.

They sat there in comfortable silence until the wind kicked up and the bell rang signifying that lunch was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Alec might have been crouched by the wall in the bedroom, hidden right behind the door. It was not exactly a heroic way to act, but then Alec wasn’t exactly a hero. Alec had successfully managed to avoid his parents for the rest of the night and Izzy, still feeling guilty for her careless remark the day before during lunch, eagerly agreed to cover for him. He wasn’t entirely against using her good nature and loyalty to his advantage on the rare occasion that is was necessary.

So the following morning, Alec waited, crouched down by the door until the very last minute as the bus pulled up in front of the house, then braced himself against the wall and raced out the front door with a speed that would have impressed Iz. He quickly yelled, “Bye, mom!”

“You’re going to have to talk to Maryse eventually,” Jace said, crowding into the sat next to him on the bus. Alec’s adopted brother rarely could bring himself to call her mom, even though he desperately wanted to. Maryse desperately wanted Jace to call her mom almost as much, but neither was willing to broach the subject. His family might have all been Supers, but unfortunately, none of them were _super_ at simple communication.

At school, Alec barely paid attention in class, excitedly waiting for lunch. Nothing could ruin his mood, not even sidekick class about how to safely change into spandex in a hurry and in possibly cramped spaces. He mostly ignored the lesson. Innocents be damned, Alec was never going to change into a spandex sidekick suit in a Porta-potty. He must have said that last part out loud because next to him, Maia snorted softly, a creeping vine with flowers that looked like bright blue trumpets wound around her left arm, up her neck, and around her hair, pulling it back from her face, a shining angelic headband of morning glories.

From the front of the room, Hodge was cautioning the gentlemen -- and anyone else with dangling bits about the legs -- to be cautious with zippers while in a hurry.

Alec’s leg was jumping up and down with the low thrum of anxiety zipping through his veins. The person sitting in front of him turned around to glare pointedly at his shuddering desk. The guy’s name was Raphael, Alec recalled, like the ninja turtle, albeit one with a far shittier attitude and less of a proclivity for gymnastics. He was photophobic, though, so he possibly also hung out in sewers in his free time. Alec had learned all that earlier when they were paired in small groups for an end of the year project and were forced to interact with people that they’d really rather not.

As soon as the bell rang signifying the end of class, Alec hoisted his backpack up over his shoulders and raced to the cafeteria, where he picked up his usual six pieces of suspiciously rectangle pizza and three cartons of milk. He hurried past his regular table, ignoring the questioning looks he got from Izzy and Jace, and crossed the entire length of the cafeteria, feeling the eyes of all his fellow classmates on him. Fuck ‘em. They’d been talking about him since yesterday, might as well give them something else to talk about.

He slapped his lunch tray on the table across from Magnus and slid into the seat, slinging his backpack into the empty chair next to him.

Magnus didn’t even bother to look up. He was listlessly picking completely round sausages off of his pizza. Cafeteria meals often felt like lessons in rudimentary geometry. “Did you get lost on your way to homecoming court, prom king?” His black nail polish was chipped right over the corner of the thumb.

Alec frowned and started in on his food, opening all three milk cartons and lining them up. “Those are two separate things, prom and homecoming, you know.”

Magnus looked deeply irritated as he scowled down at his food. He flicked a sausage toward Alec. “That’s not the point, prom king.”

Alec determinedly ignored the jibe. It would be easy to walk away, but Alec couldn’t quite make himself forget the way Magnus’ hand had felt against the back of his neck. He'd helped Alec at his lowest point, it seemed that the least Alec could do was return the favor. “My name’s Alec.”

Magnus snorted inelegantly. “I’m aware.”

So Magnus knew who he was. Alec put down his pizza, wiping his hands on his napkin and carefully studying Magnus, who still hadn’t bothered to look up. He’d never seen Magnus up close before, even when they sat outside together. He hadn’t quite dared. It was easy to make assumptions, Alec thought. Magnus certainly looked foreboding, dangerous with his black eyeliner and heavily studded ears, but there was something soft about his cheeks, fine lines around his eyes that made Alec think that in another lifetime, Magnus might have smiled a lot.

Everyone was afraid of him, but Alec was surprised to find that he wasn’t.

More sure of himself, Alec took a deep breath, said softly, “I’ll leave if you want. But I’d like to eat lunch with you.”

Magnus shrugged. “It’s a free country.” He’d stopped playing with his food and was peering up at Alec curiously through his eyelashes. Alec tried not to notice how long and dark they were. “You aren’t afraid to be seen with me?”

“You too good to hang around a sidekick?” Alec challenged. Magnus may be an outcast, but even he had to be aware that Alec had been bumped down to sidekick status. It was the hottest topic at school and the only thing anyone could talk about. And Magnus might make half of the school suspicious and the other half wet themselves, but there was no denying that he was hero-status.

“It’s a bullshit hierarchy anyway,” Magnus said.

Alec had nearly finished his pizza and was regretting not picking up an extra few slices when Magnus wordlessly slid his own tray across the table, offering Alec his own barely-touched tray.

“Thanks,” Alec said, grinning at him.

“Don’t mention it,” Magnus said and held up a hand to silence Alec as he opened his mouth. “Seriously, don’t ever mention it.”

\---

Magnus and Alec ate lunch together every day after that. In a weird way, they just _worked_ together. Alec’s nervous type-a energy to Magnus’ warm, soothing tones as he calmly told Alec to sit his ass down and stop worrying. Magnus worried a lot too, but in a different way. Alec supposed that was the difference between growing up with a close family that you trusted and one that you didn’t. Magnus didn’t talk about his past, but it was a void all the more remarkable for its glaring absence.

To Magnus’ great annoyance, after the first few days, Izzy and Jace also joined them. And then because they had to work on a group project together, Maia joined them, a remarkably glorious halo of wisteria weaved throughout her french braid and Raphael, who, as far as Alec was concerned, was mostly only remarkably pale.

Everything was going so _well_ until the first tournament, the first of four that took place during the school year. It was an opportunity for the students to show off what they’d learned and burn off a little of the pent up aggression that seemed to go hand in hand with teenagers with both raging hormones _and_ the ability to control the weather. When one of the weather Supers had a bad breakup, it would inevitably rain for a solid week. The tournament was a superhero version of a pep rally – it was a friendly rivalry, or else it was supposed to be. Kind of a superhero version of capture the flag, except with swords, fire, shifting plates, and a live hostage. This year, the hostage was Magnus Bane, who was tied up on a raised dais with a ring of fire around him, which was slowly eating away at the rope that held a quivering sword aloft, right above his midsection. From the looks of it, Magnus had mere minutes to live.

“Dude,” Jace said, poking Alec in the side. “Look, Magnus is the damsel in distress.”

Intellectually, Alec knew that this was just a game and that the teachers wouldn’t let any real harm come to Magnus, but –

All he could see was his, his – _most favorite lunch companion_ was in danger.

Clouds gathered above their heads as a girl floated up in the middle of the gym, entire body crackling with lightning.

“We’ve got to do something,” Alec whispered furiously. He didn’t think his voice would carry over the gale, but Izzy heard him anyway.

“Alec, this is a fight between Super and seniors.” She didn’t have to add that currently, he was neither.

“What if something happens to Magnus?” Alec said, watching the sword inch closer to his midsection. Alec very much preferred Magnus in one piece. “What if the teachers aren’t fast enough? Who will I eat lunch with then?”

“Think you can save him? Go for it, bro,” said Jace, who always encouraged Alec’s dumbassery, and often attempted to top it with some new flavor of dumbassery of his very own. “You need help?”

Alec leaned in and dropped his voice. “See that guy who keeps turning things into ice?”

“Hard to miss, he looks like a yeti,” Jace said.

“The conditions he’s causing make it hard to see. They’re not working as a team, none of them are. I think if we cut in, we could cause a big enough distraction for me to save Magnus.”

“Chaos?” Jace scoffed, “that’s my middle name.”

“It’s actually Eustace,” Alec said, not taking his eyes off the spectacle in front of him.

“You said you’d never tell anyone,” Jace hissed, looking deeply betrayed.

“So, all we have to do is cause a distraction?” Izzy grinned. “I can definitely do that,” she said and launched herself off the bleachers, disappearing into a streaky blur.

Alec could only follow Izzy because he knew the tell-tale signs to look for – the streak of black hair, the floor mat sliding a few inches out of place. What most people didn’t understand was that you couldn’t see Izzy in superspeed with the naked eye, but it was easy to follow the things she affected. The yeti dude yelped as he was pantsed in full view of the entire school.

“Oop,” Jace said, “guess that means I’m up.” He stomped down the bleachers, pushing people out of his way.

“Hey, Ice Queen,” Jace yelled, standing at the corner of the gym and picking up the entire set of bleachers. The kids sitting on them screamed and jumped off in every direction as Jace flung the entire thing towards the girl floating in the middle of the gymnasium. She shrieked and her eyes stopped glowing as she dropped from the air, shielding her face.

All hell broke loose as students started screaming and others jumped into the fray. The ring of fire around Magnus teetered and fell over, immediately catching on the overpolished wood. The windows shattered and the walls trembled as a student punched the ground, causing localized earthquakes.

Alec took advantage of the momentary chaos to sneak around the gym and to the back of the dais where Magnus was tied down on a table surrounded by flames. He took a steadying breath, then took a leap across the flames, crash-landing headfirst into Magnus, who was sitting up, casually untying his ropes.

Magnus shot him a disbelieving look. “What are you doing here, prom king?”

Alec, who’d had the wind knocked out of him and maybe a little sense, wheezed, “Saving you--”

Magnus blinked at him, the ropes falling from his arms as harmless as ribbons. “I can save myself, you know.” He shot Alec a disbelieving look. “I wasn’t going to let myself get _stabbed to death for_ entertainment. I could have always portaled out”

Obviously, the thought had not occurred to Alec, who was out of breath, surrounded by a ring of fire, and clutching onto the side of the dais with sweaty palms and an increasing sense of mortification.

Magnus continued, “Why do you think they chose me to play the victim?”

“I thought-- It doesn’t matter.”

Alec could his face turning a deep, burning red. He hadn’t actually thought of that, he’d just seen Magnus in danger and _acted_. “Ah. Well, I guess I will just –be on my way then.” There was no casual way for Alec to pry himself off a raised dais and slink back into the pandemonium behind him, but he was damn well going to try. The yeti guy went sailing over their heads, followed by the winged girl, giving a war shriek, impressive feathered wings unfurled. A single white feather floated down between them. The entire gymnasium was on fire.

Alec tucked his hands in his pockets and backed away.

Magnus’ eyes softened and he reached out a hand to grab Alec’s arm. “Hey, thanks for trying to save me, prom king. It’s been – well, it’s been a long time since anyone’s cared enough to try.”

Alec looked down on Magnus’ hand curled around his forearm. “You could call me Alec, you know.”

Magnus grinned at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling appealingly. “Alexander.”

Alec was having trouble breathing, probably smoke inhalation. “Always gotta be difficult,” he managed.

Magnus shrugged and Alec helped him off the dais and onto the floor. “Looks like you already know me.”

\---

The gym had been cleared out and depairing janitor was slowly sweeping the floor with a single push-broom. Izzy, Jace, and Alec sat on the front of the bleachers alone, awaiting their punishment.

The Headmaster of the school, Luke Garroway, shuffled Izzy and Jace out, leaving Alec alone with Hodge.

“What’s he going to do to them?” Alec asked worriedly. He deserved to take all the punishment; it was all his stupid idea in the first place. White-gray ashes slowly rained down like lazy snowflakes.

“Hero stuff, it’s not for us to know,” Hodge said shortly as the double doors slammed shut behind them, echoing in the empty gym. He took a seat next to Alec, chin resting on the heel of his propped up hand. “That was quite a stunt you pulled.”

Alec squared his shoulders and prepared himself for a real verbal ass-kicking. He’d taken plenty from his parents over the years. “I know I’m not a hero, but that doesn’t mean I can sit around when I see something happening that seems wrong.”

Hodge sighed and dropped a heavy hand on Alec’s shoulder. “Yeah, I know, kid. Just remember – Heros like to be the center of attention. Wherever you go, whoever you get assigned to, remember that. They’re nice to us, they depend on us, but we’ll never be one of them.” The lights shone down on him, catching his beard, the hair curling wildly over his ears. He was still so young to be retired.

Hodge had been a sidekick once, but he wasn’t anymore. For better or worse, being in the hero business wasn’t something that people tended to retire from. Alec’s parents were the exception – the lives of superheroes tended to be short and brutal. There was a reason that they literally had a school to churn them out.

“Hey, Hodge," Alec said, "what’s your power?” It seemed weird now that he'd been in his class this whole time and didn't know.

“I can see the future.”

Alec blinked. “That seems like a useful power. You’re not a hero?”

“No, I'm afraid brute strength matters more than anything else here. Let’s just say that intellectual pursuits and asking questions is not encouraged.” He was smiling, but it was a bitter, twisted thing. “Haven’t you noticed that there’s little rhyme or reason to the sorting process?”

“Aldertree--” Alec started.

“Sees your powers for five seconds and tosses you into a category where you’re supposed to stay for the rest of your life. It’s not completely arbitrary, but it’s close and all it reflects is what the person doing the sorting personally deems useful.”

“Yeah,” Alc agreed. He'd never thought of it in quite that way before. Everyone had been telling him this whole time that the sorting system was bullshit, but Alec hadn’t been paying attention.

“Mr. Lightwood, you’re so caught up with labels – superheroes, villains, sidekicks – and they’re just _names_. It doesn’t matter what you're called, it matters what you _do_.” With that, he rapped his knuckles of the edge of the aluminum bleachers and stood up.

Alec looked up at him. “But what about my punishment?”

“I think this lesson was punishment enough,” Hodge said, looking around the destroyed gym. “But also, you need to help clean this mess up.”

He was making his way towards the doors when Alec called out, “Hodge?”

Hodge turned around.

“Can you see what my future holds?”

Hodge gave him a funny look and came closer. “It’s not as clear as all that. I can’t always see what will happen, merely the possibilities. I can’t see your future until you make a decision, but I can usually guess which is the most likely. They show up cleaner, more crisp, if that makes sense? And when you make an important choice, the other possibilities fade away and the new ones branch off, brighter.”

Alec thought he understood the gist of it, but it was a bit like trying to understand the color of a sunrise if you’d been blind your whole life. “Yeah, I think I get it.”

“But I’ve looked into your future and every time I try, it’s just a blur, a shattered kaleidoscope of color that turns gray and murky the further I try to follow the possibilities. That’s unique to you.” Hodge cocked his head curiously, like Alec was a puzzle he had yet to figure out. “Why do you think that is?”

What a terrifying fucking thing to hear. Hodge was a _terrible_ teacher. “I honestly don’t know.”

Hodge leaned closed, his voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “I think your future is in flux. I think it can go many different ways and you haven’t made a definitive decision yet.”

Alec felt like Hodge wasn’t really seeing him, like he was peeling back the layers of Alec’s skin and looking at something far deeper. “When will that happen?”

Hodge shook his head. “Always asking impossible questions. How long is a piece of string? Maybe you switch universities or majors and that sets you on your path. Or maybe you have a second cup of coffee and that makes you later for work than usual, so you decide to take an alternate route to work, and the traffic is bad, and you get into a car wreck. You're taken to the hospital. And that’s where you meet the doctor that treats you, someone you’ll marry five years later. So I guess we could say that your path was set the moment you decided to have that second cup of coffee. For most of us, we won’t know the momentous decision that changes the course of our lives until we’ve already made it.”

Alec swallowed nervously. “S-so you’re saying I should think carefully about having a second cup of coffee?”

Hodge laughed and the tension dissipated as if it had never been. “I’m saying decisions are just decisions, neither right nor wrong. No way to know at the moment, so you might as well just live your life and what comes will come.”

Annoyingly, it was exactly what Alec had suspected all along – destiny was nothing but chance, great threads of possibility winding through space and time with no discernible pattern or reason. Still, he doubted he would ever again drink a cup of coffee without feeling a great sense of paranoia.

“Hodge,” Alec said, “you’ll let me know if my future holds something terrible?”

“Of course,” Hodge answered. His mouth was still smiling, but he was staring intently at something in the distance. Alec couldn’t help but shiver. So he hadn’t been imagining the feeling earlier; this was what it felt like to have someone peer into your destiny. “I’m keeping a very close watch on your future. It seems to intersect with almost everyone’s here at Sky High. They're crystal-clear until they meet with yours and then they shatter. I think you’re about to do something _very_ important, Mr. Lightwood.”


	3. Chapter 3

At school, they’d moved into trigonometry and into the morality of countries that required Supers to be registered. It was an interesting thought, and the opinion was split roughly down the middle.

Over lunch, Alec was discussing it with Maia, who was growing so agitated that small white flower petals were flying out of her hair in every direction. It was adorable, but Alec didn’t dare say that out loud.

“I’m just saying,” he said, poking at his piles of tater tots, “I think that Supers can be dangerous if left unchecked.”

“So can Normies,” Maia said mulishly. She’d pushed her tray away from her, and Alec reached out and turned it around to see if she had anything good left.

“Yeah, and there’s such a thing as a census. It’s not an inherently bad thing to categorize people.”

“Oh, like our system here?”

Jace set his trays on the table and looked like he was regretting it when he heard the tone of their conversation. He looked like hell, but a big fight always did that to him. Yesterday, Izzy had eaten everything in their cupboard at home and then promptly fallen asleep. Alec had checked on her before school, leaving two glasses of water and six protein bars on her nightstand before kissing her head as he left. The powers Supers expended had to come from _somewhere_ and the more impressive the power, the more extended the refractory period.

It might have been Alec’s imagination, but the vines weaving through Maia’s hair and down her arms seemed to be hissing at him. “I didn’t even participate in the sorting here. I’m judged every day for the color of my skin. Why the hell would I let someone else deem me worthy for what my powers are?”

Alec sat back in his chair, chewing his food thoughtfully. He still thought the more dangerous Supers ought to be tracked somehow, but she was right about one thing – those that would willingly submit to a census and to be marked somehow weren’t the dangerous ones. There was a dehumanizing element to it that would set a nasty precedent. And at the end of the day, people were just people. Everyone had the potential to be dangerous.

“I know my own value as a person, Alec, and it doesn’t have jack shit to do with the fact that I can make plants grow.”

\---

After class, Alec jogged to catch up with Magnus. “Hey, Magnus – do you want to come over to my house?”

Magnus was busy rifling through his locker. “For what?”

Alec shrugged awkwardly. “For the pleasure of my non-heroic company?”

“Why are you so caught up on labels?”

A lot of people had been asking Alec that recently. “Why are you? You called me prom king for the first few weeks that we knew each other.” He shrugged. “It’s a label, the world needs labels. Otherwise, it’s chaos, it’s just something people do.” Jesus god, was everyone going to give him shit about labels today?

“But not unkind labels,” Magnus said, slamming his locker shut. He turned around and stared at Alec pointedly. “You’re a lot more than a sidekick.”

Like always, the weight of Magnus’ regard was a heavy thing. It felt good but also worried him. Alec was always afraid Magnus would see something he wouldn’t like. “So, are you coming or not?”

“Guess I could.”

“Gracious as that is, come on,” Alec said, grabbing his arm. “We’re going to have to hurry if we want to catch the bus,” Alec said, a little embarrassed. What he wouldn’t give for Clary’s power of hopping through space, so he can hop into a dimension where he doesn't always feel like a total dork around Magnus.

His parents wouldn’t buy them a car until they’ were 100% sure none of them could fly.

“I got it,” Magnus said and grabbed Alec’s hand, pulling him into a nearby janitor’s closet. Alec blinked in the darkness of the closet, sure that he was hallucinating. He was going to be the first seventeen-year-old to die from a panic-induced heart attack.

He could feel the heat pouring off Magnus' body. “Not that I’m complaining, but uh, what are we doing in a closet?”

“Hang on,” Magnus said, and Alec watched blue flames spring to life around his hands.

“Whoah,” Alec said dumbly. Magnus had mentioned being able to do magic before, but in the chaos of the gym burning down, Alec hadn't thought to question him further. “Did you do that with the power of your brain?”

Magnus gave Alec a pitying look, then did a series of complicated, graceful loops with his hands as Alec watched, mesmerized by the crackling energy, the sheer _power_. The air seemed to shiver for a second before the air itself parted and a shimmering portal appeared, circled by crackling blue flames. Alec could see the end of his street through the portal.

“After you,” Magnus said, looking smug.

“Wow, shit,” Alec said eloquently and stepped through the portal. “Guess I’ll text Jace to let him know that I’ll be missing the bus.”

\---

Stepping through the portal was a wild, dizzying experience. He felt like his body was in his home, but he’d maybe also left his stomach back at the school.

At home, Alec showed Magnus to the picnic area outside, figuring that was the best place for him. He might actually _combust_ if he had Magnus alone in his bedroom. He took the stairs two at a time as he went upstairs to check on Iz. On the nightstand, the glasses were empty and there were crumpled protein bar wrappers scattered on the floor around her bed. “Hey, Iz, I’m home.”

She rolled over and blinked up sleepily at him. “Where’s Jace?”

“Probably on the bus,” Alec answered.

“How’d you get here?”

“Magnus brought me. Apparently, he can make portals with swirly magic that shoots from his hands.”

“Portals? Like rips in space or is transporting atoms from one place to another.”

“No damn clue,” Alec said blankly. “If it helps, they kind of look like big sparkly buttholes hovering in the air.”

Izzy laughed. “I’ll have to ask him about it some time.” Her expression turned calculating. “Magnus brought you? So, he’s over here, huh?”

Alec couldn’t help the note of defensiveness that crept into his voice. “Yeah? What about it?”

“Oh nothing,” Izzy said, all faux innocence. “Better get back down there, your man’s waiting.”

“He’s not--” Alec backed up and stumbled over a pile of dirty clothes. “He’s just-- never mind,” he said, turning and fleeing.

Down the hall, he could hear Izzy laughing loudly. “Go get that ass,” Izzy called out to him.

\---

On his way outside, Alec swung by his room and grabbed some cookies from his secret stash and in the kitchen, poured two glasses of milk, struggling to balance them all in his arms as he stepped into the back yard. It was still fall, the large oak trees are turning variants of fire-red and orange, the leaves going brown and crispy around the edges.

There was a picnic table in the back that they used to use for family dinners during summers before they all got too busy to eat together anymore. Magnus was sitting on top of it, feet resting against the long bench.

“Cookies,” Alec said and set down the plate and glasses of milk.

Magnus looked at the plate curiously. “Did your mom make those?”

Alec snorted laughing. Maryse? Bake cookies? That would be like a cat walking on its back legs – strange and unnatural. She was much too busy saving the world to cook for her kids. “No, I did.”

Magnus' eyebrows shot up. His mouth quirked at the corner. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that."

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

"Clearly," Magnus practically purred. "You're a man of many talents, Alexander."

"Shut up and eat your cookies," Alec said, face burning. While eating, he told Magnus about the countries that were proposing mandatory Super registry.

"I wouldn't bother," Magnus said.

Alec looked at him sharply. "Why not?"

Magnus sat down his cookie and began fiddling with the piercings that trailed up his ear. It seemed to Alec that was something Magnus did when a subject really bothered him. “Why bother? Everyone thinks I’m evil anyway.”

“Who said that?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “I know what people say about me at school.”

“I’m sorry anyone ever made you feel that way,” Alec said quietly. And he was sorry, though he could see now that he’d been part of the system that had set Magnus apart: Supers, Sidekicks, and Normies. It wasn’t unusual that he unquestioningly accepted the society with which he’d been born into and conditioned all his life, but he was at the age where not questioning it had become unacceptable. He’d always taken for granted that these were the way things were without ever bothering to ask why.

He looked at Magnus. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that way.”

“Thanks,” Magnus said.

They finished off the cookies and Alec pushed them aside, stacking the empty glasses together to take inside later. He stretched out on the table, his head pillowed in his arms, enjoying the thoughtful silence that had fallen. “Magnus, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Do I have any choice?” He sounded amused.

“You have a choice whether to answer it or not,” Alec pointed out seriously. “You always have that choice.”

“Then you can ask,” Magnus said.

Alec sat up to face him, and voice lowered, asked with great gravitas, “Can you shoot laser beams out of your eyes?”

Magnus blinked owlishly. “My eyes?”

“– or anywhere else?”

“Where else would I –“ Magnus clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t you _dare_ answer that.”

"I take that as a no," Alec said, slightly disappointed. He shouldn't have believed any of the bullshit Jace told him anyway. “What else can you do?”

"You want to see?" Magnus asked. There was something in his voice that was hesitant, almost shy.

"Yeah, please," Alec said.

Magnus took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hands hovering above his crossed legs. Blue flames flared to life, engulfing his hands, running up his forearms, and convalesced into a blue orb hovering a few inches above the palms of his hands. Magnus opened his eyes and peered down. Alec could see the energy reflected in his dark eyes and for one second, they almost seemed to flash gold. “I’m working on conjuring."

"Wow," Alec breathed, "is there anything you can’t do?”

“Your sister, Isabelle, was so tired after using her superspeed for extended periods because she’s using her own power and she has to replenish it. But my powers work differently. This power, it comes from the earth – magical currents of energy that permeate all things. The only energy I use is becoming a conduit for it and directing it how I want it.”

Alec couldn’t imagine being able to tap into that kind of power. At this very moment, Alec couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have a very small amount of power. He’d only ever managed to be completely ordinary, surrounded by the extraordinary.

“So, in theory, your power is unlimited?"

“No,” Magnus said, frowning, and the orb blinked out as fast as it had appeared. “The universe all has its limits and balances for everything. I learned the hard way that nothing comes for free.”

“Is there anything you tried to do but couldn't?"

“Bring people back to life,” Magnus said.

\---

After class, Hodge called out, “Mr. Lightwood, can you stay behind a moment?”

Raj saluted him on his way out, a drop of sweat landing on the edge of his desk, and Alec scowled back.

Alec felt sick; here it came, the moment he’d been dreading: he was getting kicked out of Sky High. He walked up to Hodge’s desk on shaking legs as the rest of the class filed out, leaving them alone.

Hodge stood up and perched on the edge of his desk. “Mr. Lightwood, it’s no secret that you’ve yet to manifest any powers, and this is a school for educating children about how to manage their powers.”

To have it said out loud was a relief, in a way. Everyone kept telling him to have hope, but it was oddly freeing to have someone just say it: Alec was not special and he never would be.

“The rest of the teachers and I have discussed what to do with you. I reminded them of my particular vision of your future, and urged them to plan a specialized course for you.”

Alec’s mouth was dry, and he was having trouble swallowing around the lump of panic lodged in his throat. “Such as?”

“I've canceled all your classes for the rest of the day. Come on, let’s change into your gym clothes.”

\---

Alec changed quickly in the locker room and met Hodge in the gym as instructed. It was still hollowed out, the walls singed, blue plastic tarps taped to the windows, distorting the light shining through. It made the gym feel like it was underwater, the singe marks against the walls strange and discomfiting.

There was a pillar in the middle of the room that hadn’t been there before.

“Your brother did quite a bit of structural damage,” Hodge said wryly.

“Sorry,” Alec said, looking down at his feet.

“Don’t be. I think it’s good sometimes for Supers to be surprised, disrupt the status quo. We do tend to get stagnant.” Hodge was looking around, dressed in plain gray sweats and a t-shirt. “Now, I know you’re familiar with the basics of self-defense and some martial arts, but since you don’t have any powers to accommodate, then we’re going a little bit deeper with your lessons. Follow me through the basic forms,” Hodge instructed.

Alec knew some of them, if not well, and slowly followed Hodge’s movements.

“These are more than stretches and warm-ups. This is a time to center yourself, to think about what you want out of the day’s lesson. Remember, accuracy matters more than speed here.”

Alec grinned inwardly; he doubted Izzy would agree.

Sometime later, Hodge stopped. Alec was surprised to realize that he had a light sheen of sweat covering his body. He hadn’t realized that he was so tense.

Hodge disappeared for a moment and Alec let his thoughts wander. They inevitably crept towards Magnus and Alec wondered what he was doing. What he was wearing. He got himself so distracted that he barely caught the bo staff Hodge threw at him in time to avoid being brained.

Hodge spun his own bo staff around, letting it rest easily in his palm like an extension of his arm.

“What do I do?” Alec asked.

“Don’t let me hit you,” Hodge said, bringing the staff down across Alec’s body. Reflexively, Alec threw his arms up, blocking it at the very last minute, the wooden staffs cracking loudly in the gym. He saw Hodge’s hand twitch and lowered the staff, jutting the bottom forward just in time to block another blow.

“I thought you would be good at this.” Hodge withdrew the staff, looping it around his waist in a seemingly needlessly complicated manner. Alec imagined Jace would just _love_ this.

“Where did you learn moves like that?” Alec asked. This wasn’t normal Sky High curriculum.

Hodge looked surprised. “Your parents, of course.”

“What?” Alec had never seen his parents fight with bo staffs. From what he’d seen, his parents mostly used fists and blunt force, the preferred method of Supers everywhere.

“Did you know that I used to be your parent’s sidekick?”

“No,” Alec answered, eyes wide. He very nearly forgot to block Hodge’s next blow, which landed on his right outer thigh. “ _Fuck_.”

“ _Pay attention_ ,” Hodge said impatiently. “Distraction has been the undoing of many heroes.”

Alec ducked out of the way of a quick jab from the end of Hodge's staff.

“I’m not surprised they haven’t mentioned me to you kids,” Hodge said conversationally. “They don’t like to talk about me. Our history is – fraught.

“How? Why?” He wasn’t surprised that his parents had secrets; they’d grown up as Supers. Even their secrets had secrets. Being dodgy was a way of life for them, but he _was_ surprised that everyone else had managed to keep their big mouths shut.

“A philosophical difference, you could say. They decided that Supers were better kept in secret, and I disagreed.”

Hodge feinted left, then brought his bo staff up across his body on the right with a neat spinning maneuver and Alec blocked it.

“Good,” Hodge said approvingly, “you’re already getting better.”

“But that’s how it’s always been,” Alec said, aware that it was a poor defense of his parents. Just because something always was, didn’t necessarily make it right.

“We live and die for Normies. We train our whole lives to protect them, and they never even know our real names. Don’t you find that odd?”

“What else would you have us do? We have to protect them,” Alec said.

“Why?” Hodge asked and brought the bo staff up, hitting Alec on the underside of his chin. For a moment, Alec’s vision whited out. “We simultaneously hold them in contempt _and_ we’re afraid of their numbers. Do you ever wonder where the first Super came from?”

Alec rubbed his jaw, willing himself to regain his balance. It was hard, considering he was currently seeing two of everything.

“It was a mutation in the gene pool. Detractors would say that the mutation was accidental, but some believe that Supers are simply the next step in the human evolutionary process.” Hodge circled Alec slowly, forcing Alec to keep turning. The bastard knew he was still dizzy. “Even now, a thousand years after the first Super walked the earth, his children’s children are manifesting multiple powers because we intermarried with each other, generation after generation. What would it be like to step out of the shadows and declare ourselves to the world? To intermarry until everyone had a chance at powers? We could create a better, stronger society.”

What he was suggesting made some amount of sense. Normies were afraid of Supers because they didn't understand them, because Supers had deliberately kept themselves separate. But at the end of the day, it wasn't a decision a few could make for everyone. Freedom of choice was a human right, and Supers were still humans above all else.

“That’s eugenics,” Alec said uneasily.

“Some would call that progress.”

Alec grunted as he ducked low to avoid Hodge’s staff, which went sailing over his head, close enough that he could feel the breeze of the dispersed air ruffle his hair. He overtipped and lost his balance, falling soundly on his ass. “And what about the people who don’t manifest powers? Do we still protect them?” People like me, Alec silently added. He pushed himself up, his hands balled into fists.

“Are we protecting them or are we subjugating them? Where do you think the legends of gods who live in the clouds came from?”

Alec didn’t have an answer. He quickly rolled over and stood up, but it was too late. Hodge had already anticipated that action, probably knew what Alec was going to do ten moves in advance.

In a movement that was too quick for Alec’s eyes to track, Hodge spun the bo staff around his head, and viper-fast, thrust it forward, stopping just an inch from making contact. Alec realized with horror that Hodge had been going incredibly easy on him this entire time. 

“Boom,” Hodge said softly, the tip at Alec’s throat, “you’re dead.”


	4. Chapter 4

More often than not Magnus portaled them back to Alec’s house after school and Alec darted into the kitchen and grabbed all the snacks before they disappeared into the back yard, where Magnus and Alec would hang out until his parents come home. But today, it was raining, large drops hitting against the glass of the sliding back doors, turning the world blurry and gray.

“I’m starving,” Alec mumbled, opening the refrigerator.

Magnus was leaning against the counter, looking like the tall gangly wizard of Alec’s horny teenaged dreams. Magnus was more narrow than Alec, but there was a sharpness to him, the promise of breadth in his shoulders and the graceful way he walked. Alec knew that he was probably considered more classically handsome than Magnus, and yet, he lacked Magnus’ compelling nature, his--

“You’re studying those muffins really hard,” Magnus pointed out.

“I have strong feelings about muffins,” Alec replied, trying to keep his voice even. He grabbed the plate off the shelf.

“You kids are eating me out of house and home,” Maryse had grumbled last week, stocking the refrigerator for the third time in just as many days. They had two deep freezers in the garage and still, there wasn’t quite enough food to get the entire family through more than a couple of days.

“We could go up to my room?” Alec suggested, feeling unaccountably nervous. They could eat here in the kitchen or the living room, but Izzy and Jace were due home soon and he didn’t particularly feel like sharing Magnus.

“Lead the way,” Magnus said.

Alec grabbed some drinks and the muffins and then took the stairs two at a time, incredibly aware of the heat of Magnus at his back. He couldn’t help but feel like he was walking funny.

Alec tried not to feel nervous as Magnus slowly walked the perimeter of his room, fingers trailing over the spines of his books as he read the titles. “Yiu like Kurt Vonnegut?”

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be,” Alec recited.

“That’s bullshit,” Magnus said.

“ _He’s a legendary writer_ \--”

Alec's protests died in his throat as Magnus stepped closer. “Doesn’t mean he can’t be wrong. Excuse me, Mr. Vonnegut, but people pretend to be things they’re not all the time, and they didn't have a goddamn bit of bearing on who people really are.”

They were standing so close.

“You’re nothing like I thought you’d be,” Magnus confessed quietly.

Alec swallowed. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“All good,” Magnus said. Somewhere on the bed, the plate of muffins hit the floor, rolling across the hardwood. But Alec didn’t care. All he cared about was his pulse, thundering in his ears, and Magnus, moving incrementally closer--

Just then, the bedroom door opened and Jace barreled in, yelling, “Hey, assmunch, have you seen the--” He stopped and looked from Alec to Magnus and back again, looking bewildered. “Am I interrupting something, dude?”

\---

“You know,” Alec said, panting, “you don’t have to kick my ass _every time_ we spar.”

They’d fixed the gymnasium windows, all the better to see Hodge wipe the floor with him yet again, Alec thought wryly.

Hodge was looking down at him, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “How are you with a bow and arrow?”

“I think the pointy end goes into your enemy,” alec said, perplexed. “Why?” He picked himself off the floor, ignoring the muscles twinging in his—everywhere. Even he could tell that he was getting better, though not enough to beat Hodge. Probably never enough to beat Hodge – it was hard to fight someone who could see the future and your moves as soon as you’d decided on them.

“You pay too much attention to your surroundings.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

Hodge shook his head. “Not to the point of distraction.” He held out a white towel to Slec, which he gratefully took.

Alec wiped his brow, wondered if it would be gross to wipe his sweaty armpits. “I don’t know, I guess I just keep looking for Izzy and Jace.”

“I thought so. That’s why I asked about a bow and arrow. I think you would do well with a long-range weapon. You couldn’t hope to match a super in strength and speed, but your power has never been in your fists anyway.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Alec was aware that next to Jace, he had the strength of a soggy kitten, but it didn’t feel great to be reminded of it.

“Wipe your armpits,” Hodge said.

Alec’s eyes went wide. “C-can you _see_ that?”

Hodge grinned faintly. “No, I just know you. You’ll agonize over it for the next hour and then just do it anyway.” He picked up the fall mats and moved them to the corner of the gym, putting them in a neat stack. “Your power lies in your ability to see the big picture. In the fact that people will follow you.”

Alec shook his head and he tossed the towel to the side. It was hot in the gym, the heat almost oppressive, sweat dripping in his eyes. “I’m no leader.”

“Aren’t you? I know it was your plan to disrupt the competition. And I saw how you took the lead in your group projects.”

“Yeah, but that’s just because there was nobody else,” Alec pointed out. He saw what needed to be done and he did it. That hardly made him a _leader._

“There’s a vacuum of power in every generation until someone seizes it.” Hodge paused and then said, “How much do you know about a man named Valentine?”

“Crazy megalomaniac?” He’d heard of him in passing, but like everything that made people ashamed of themselves, they avoided talking about him.

“Some called him a visionary. But like you, powers or not, he was a natural leader.”

“Except he was crazy.”

“Your parents didn’t feel that way, once upon a time. He was the inevitable product of what happens when you have an authoritarian, inflexible establishment and disenfranchised youth. Like I said, a power vacuum that was handed to him on a silver platter.”

Alec felt his world tilt on the axis of everything he thought he knew. It went against everything he’d thought he’d known his parents but lately, he’d begun to suspect that he didn’t know them very well at all. “You’re _lying_.” Even as he said it, he knew he was wrong.

“About Valentine or about your parents?”

“My parents are _heroes_ \--”

“I never said they weren’t,” Hodge interrupted. “I think you would find very few willing to debate that. But the history books paint Valentine as some kind of crazy cult leader because it’s easier to understand than the truth: he was just a man created by a stifling political climate. All I’m trying to say is that he was a product of his time – Inflexibility always leads to disenfranchisement – and that he reminded me of you, in a way. He was born to a family of Supers, but he didn’t manifest a power, or so we thought. As it turned out, he had great powers of persuasion. He could see what people wanted, he saw the alienation of many supers and spoke to that, giving them what they craved – validation, a voice, _equality_. Is it any wonder that your parents found that appealing?”

It made a terrible, horrid kind of sense. A month ago, Alec might have even agreed with Valentine.

“You should talk to your parents about this,” Hodge said. He rifled through a pile of training weapons and picked up a blunted knife and threw it at Alec, who reflexively caught it by the handle.

Hodge grunted in approval. “You’re fast and strong, a good learner, and you’re making good progress. But this will never be your specialty.”

“If I'm so unsuitable for hand to hand, why are we learning this?” Alec asked curiously, giving the knife a lazy little flip.

Hodge took a basic fighting stance, holding the knife perpendicular to the ground. His movements were exaggerated, slow enough for Alec to easily block with a raised forearm. “We’re doing these drills until they’re second nature to you, until you don’t have to think whether you’d rather take a knife wound to the arm, shoulder, or leg. In a real fight, there will be adrenaline, sweat, and you won’t have time to think. If you go up against a super, you will die. But I’m teaching you how to survive. I’m teaching you how to last long enough for someone to come to your rescue.”

“What happens if no one comes?” He spun to avoid a lazy swipe and ended up taking a foot to the solar plexus. Hodge had been waiting for him.

“It’s the risk we all take simply living.” Hodge shrugged, stepping back and letting Alec catch his breath. Alec switched his practice knife from one sweaty hand to another. “I tell you this so you understand that Strength has little to do with muscle mass. True strength lies in adaptability. I wonder, did you ever ask Mr. Santiago what his power was?”

Alec was a little ashamed to admit that he had not. “No.”

Alec blocked another knife swipe with a wide, lazy arc, only this time, he was ready for it and stepped into it instead of away, spinning closer and ducking down, letting his knife dangle from his fingers, swinging it around until the blade was pointed at Hodge’s leg. He dragged the tip right above where Hodge’s femoral artery would be.

“Very good, but--” Hodge said, pressing the tip of his own knife down. In his eagerness to win, Alec had accounted for all of Hodge’s positioning except he’d forgotten about his goddamn other hand. Which currently held a knife to the back of his neck. “No matter how much you learn, there’s always someone better than you. Sometimes, there is no way out, no way to win.”

“Good thing I’m not a hero then,” Alec said, closing his eyes. He dropped his own knife and raised his arms in surrender.

“You are, at the very core of who you are.” Hodge pulled the knife back. “That’s the final lesson, Mr. Lightwood, something that everyone must learn, Supers and Normies alike.” Hodge stepped back and held out a hand to help Alec up. “Sometimes the heroes lose.”

\---

Unable to sleep, at some time around two am, Alec gave up and snuck into the kitchen. Thoughts of Magnus, his parents, Hodge, his own future, kept swirling around in his head in a confused jumble. In the dark kitchen, he turned on the single bulb over the sink and grabbed a mixing bowl. Slowly, he started adding ingredients that were high protein and high fat, using quick-cooking oats, almond butter, and protein powder. He mashed up and banana and some chocolate chips for sweetness, then a bit of salt to make sure it wasn’t cloying. He rolled them into little balls and spaced them out on the cookie sheet. He burned the first batch, then started over again.

The second batch safely in the oven, Alec pulled a chair over in front of the oven and stared at it, not daring to look away.

A few minutes into his vigil, Jace padded into the kitchen, yawning into his arm. “What are you doing up so late? Or is it early.”

“Depends on how you look at it, I guess,” Alec answered, not moving his gaze from the oven. Everything in his life was happening faster than Alec could process it, and Alec tried not to be life Izzy and Jace, reactionary and brash, but inaction eventually became a decision too.

He hadn’t talked to his parents about anything of substance since the year started. They obviously knew he didn’t have powers and didn’t quite know what to say. Sometimes, he’d catch his mom looking at him, her mouth half-open like he was getting ready to speak, but the moment she noticed Alec staring back, she’d close her mouth and walk away. In this way, his family had settled into an uneasy truce, the patented Lightwood way of dealing with emotional turmoil: Avoid it. But that would only work for so long – Izzy alone was fast enough to outrun trouble.

Jace hopped up on the counter, legs swinging over the side. The hair on one side of his head stood straight up, the other was flattened. Jace would hate it if Alec pointed out how cute it looked, so Alec pressed his lips shut, staring at the oven door. “You’re stress baking again? What brought this on tonight?”

“Stress, _obviously_ ,” Alec said, frowning. The tops were growing warm golden brown and it was almost time for Alec to turn them to get an even bake on every side. They were perhaps too dense – they did not spread into a nice cookie shape, instead remaining rigidly, determinedly spherical.

“I wish you wouldn’t let this sidekick shit get to you,” Jace said with a sigh.

Alec stretched out on his chair. “I’m not,” he said, surprising himself. It had been weeks since he’d thought about his sidekick status with anything more than vague disappointment. And to be entirely honest, he was beginning to _enjoy_ his classmates. Raphael was weird, and Maia was brilliant but prickly – both figuratively and literally, she sometimes sprouted thorns when annoyed – and Raj was damp, but Alec realized that they were in the same boat. Sure, it might be the Titanic, but hey, better to go down with friends. And he could _trust_ them, which was more than he’d ever felt in his hero classes. Maybe they would form their own B-team Justice League for their end of the semester project. The Better Than Nothing League.

Alec leaned forward, watching his cookies without blinking. Finally, they were perfect. Alec stood up, grabbed a potholder, and pulled the tray out. Carefully, he turned the protein balls over and slid them back into the oven. He sat back down, continuing his obsessive vigil. “It’s other stuff that’s bothering me now.”

“Anything you want to tell me about?”

He couldn't tell Jace about their parents, not without speaking to them first, not without untangling his own feelings about it. Some things, he had to handle by himself, and it was a lonely feeling, the thought that this was what growing up meant. Alec shook his head mutely.

Jace was silent for a moment then said, a note of hesitation in his tone, “Is it Magnus?”

“Since when do you call him _Magnus_ and not _Bane_?”

Jace shifted uncomfortably. “Alec – I’m _sorry,_ okay _?_ Everyone thought he was evil. I’m a kid, I make mistakes. Cut me some slack.”

“You’re a hero, you should be better than regular kids,” Alec stubbornly maintained. He knew that he wasn’t really being fair but it was difficult. _He’d_ always held himself to a higher standard. Maybe that’s why he’d spent most of his childhood terrified of being a failure. He didn’t ever want Jace to feel the same way.

“No one is born a hero,” Jace said. “We’re just kids.”

“Yeah, okay,” Alec said. “Apology accepted.” It was the only kind he’d get from Jace, and Alec wasn’t entirely sure he deserved it – after all, he’d believed some of the rumors about Magnus too.

“So, what did you make?” Jace grinned. “More cookies of sadness? Or muffins of despair?”

Alec frowned and opened the oven, pulling the cookie sheet out carefully. “I call them my sweet and salty protein balls.”

Jace laughed so hard that he fell off the counter.

“Obviously, that is still a working name,” Alec said peevishly, staring down at him.

When Jace had recovered enough to stand again, he shuffled close to the counter and grabbed one. He took an experimental bite. “Hey, these are pretty good.”

“Of course they are,” Alec said like he’d known they would be. He did not know anything of the sort. “Eat one of those and you could carry enough energy to carry two washing machines on your back for a dozen miles, not that I can think of a compelling reason that you’d want to.”

Jace shrugged, scooping up a couple more of the balls. “Why do anything? Sometimes it just feels good to let go and do what feels good.” He gave Alec’s shoulder and squeeze and loped off back to bed.

And then Alec was alone in the kitchen, left with Jace’s last words. He thought of the long sweep of Magnus’ eyelashes as Alec furtively watched him, the way Magnus’ fingers had looked, brushing across the spines of his books.

Sometimes you just had to do what felt good.

\---

In class the next day, Alec felt like shit warmed over. He was sitting at his desk, pretending to study when he had that same prickle when Hodge was looking into his future last time.

“Quit that shit,” Alec mouthed at him irritably, looking up.

The corner of Hodge’s mouth quirked and he looked away, but he still seemed troubled.

Speaking of, Alec leaned over his desk and poked Raphael in the shoulder with the end of his pencil.

“ _What_?” Raphael hissed, turning around in his chair to glare at Alec.

“What’s your power?” Alec asked.

“None of your business.”

“It is my business, because we have a group project due, and it has to utilize all our powers.” He looked down at his hands. “Or lack thereof.”

“Maia thinks we should boycott the project,” Raphael said smugly.

“Maia needs to chill with this revolution bullshit,” Alec said, unimpressed. “Some of us don’t have powers, and will actually have to go to a real university. So, some of us can’t afford to fail this class.”

Raphael looked appraisingly at Alec, then sighed. People had been doing a lot of that around Alec lately. “Look, it’s easier for me to show you than to try to explain it. Meet me outside by the football field bleachers after school.”

\---

Alec sat on the very top of the bleachers, watching football practice. Football was dangerous at Sky High, you never knew when someone was going to lose their temper and Hulk out. Literally.

Raphael caught his attention noisily clambering up to sit beside him. In the bright afternoon sun, his skin smoked slightly.

“Oh fuck,” Alec said. “I thought you couldn’t go outside?’

“Clearly I can,” Raphael said irritably. “How do you think I get to school? It hurts to go outside but I can.”

“Dedicated tunnel system underground to and from the school?” Alec hazarded.

“Do you think I’m some kind of mole person?”

“Ha ha, _no_ ,” Alec said uneasily. That was exactly what he’d thought.

“Well, that’s really sad,” Raphael said flatly, hands tucked into both of his pockets. With that, he turned and fell backward from the top of the bleachers onto the hardpacked dirt beneath. His body hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

“Oh, _fuck_!” Alec screamed and nearly threw up. He jumped down off the top of the bleachers, his teeth clacking together as he hit the ground with a bone-jarring impact. The dirt kicked up into a little cloud as Alec let the balls of his feet absorb the impact and braced himself for the fall, letting his momentum carry him forward and did a little somersault to end up back on his feet. It took less than five seconds. It was a neat maneuver that Alec had learned from his otherwise incredibly demoralizing sessions with Hodge. He ran to Raphael’s side, grasping his arm, the other hand checking for a pulse.

As he watched, Raphael blinked and sat up, his bones knitting together with little pops that made Alec clamp a hand over his mouth.

“Jesus,” Alec gasped, clutching at his chest. He was a little embarrassed to admit that for one heart-stopping minute, he’d halfway been convinced that Raphael was a zombie.

“Nope,” Raphael said, smoothing back his already impeccable hair. “I’m just invulnerable.”

“To anything?” Alec offered his hand to help Raphael up.

“Let’s see," Raphael said, ticking them off on his hands, “I’m photophobic, afraid of heights, snakes, rats, oddly-shaped clouds--.”

“Clouds?”

“I think I’m mildly allergic to air,” Raphael said mournfully. “Sometimes I break out into hives for no reason at all.”

“That’s probably the suckiest superpower that I’ve seen and I’m including the girl that has a beak for a nose.” Alec paused. “But _clouds_ \--”

Raphael glared at Alec. “Everything hurts but nothing can kill me. The world demands balance.”

Raphael and Alec climbed back up to the top of the bleachers, and silently watched the football practice. On the sidelines below them, a single cheerleader stood, occasionally starting a cheer alone, then replicating herself until she was standing somewhere in the center of a full squadron of cheering doppelgangers. Alec supposed that was one way of cutting down on uniform costs. He wondered if it ever felt lonely, only ever being surrounded by yourself.

Someone else had told him that the universe demanded a balance, that the universe did not give out gifts for free. Oh, _Magnus_. Magnus, who had all the power in the world but no family or friends. Magnus, who had come to their school during the tail end of his junior year, afraid and alone and running from a past that he still couldn't bring himself to tell Alec about. Maybe it was a good thing that Alec didn’t have powers; with his luck, he would've ended up with six dicks, all the better to embarrass him with inappropriate and inopportune hardons.

“Hey, Raphael,” Alec said, a thought occurring to him, “how long are you going to live?”

“I’m ninety years old,” Raphael answered, glaring into the sunlight. He had a small rash on his neck that he scratched in kind of a half-assed way. There was something deeply terrible about the thought that he’d gotten so used to being in pain that it barely registered anymore. But weren’t most people like that? “I’m aging backward like Benjamin Button.”

“Shit, really?”

“No, dummy,” Raphael said, exasperated. He took a deep breath and something in his face twisted, became painful and hopeless and hard to look at, but Alec kept looking. Because that was what he did; he looked when other people would turn away. “No one knows. No one knows how long I’ll age, it’s been slowing down the last few years. They think I’m going to stop eventually. As they understand my power, I evolve to become invulnerable to outside stimuli. Eventually, they think I’ll evolve past time itself.”

“Well, that’s good, right?”

“Would you want to outlive your friends, your family?”

Alec thought about living in a world without his family, without his friends, without Magnus – it was too painful to linger on. “No.”

“That’s why I avoid the sun, you know. I could eventually evolve past it. But the faster I evolve, the faster I stop all the clocks for myself.”

With the good, there came the bad. With strength came weakness. Alec reached out and laid a hand on Raphael's shoulder. Maybe he would evolve past needing comfort eventually, but that day was not today. Today, he was a kid and he was terrified.

“The world demands balance,” Alec said softly.


	5. Chapter 5

“What’s that?” Magnus asked, giving the container on the counter an experimental poke. It had gotten too cold to spend their time in the backyard, so they generally grabbed a snack and headed up to Alec's room, to his great excitement and horror.

“Just an experience in culinary disaster,” Alec said, hoping Magnus would let it go. He desperately wanted Magnus to think of him as sexy, masculine. Nothing quite said that like Alec doing his best impersonation of Betty Crocker. 

Because he was determined to always do the exact opposite of what Alec wanted, he lifted the lid. “Smells good, what are they?”

“They’re protein balls. They can give Supers enough energy for an entire day.”

Magnus eyed the baked goods speculatively. “Can I try one?”

“You don’t have to,” Alec said, “I don’t need pity _eats_ \--”

“Alec,” Magnus interrupted with a completely straight face. “I want to eat your balls.”

Alec gripped the edge of the counter to keep from collapsing. Somehow, he managed to say, “Sure, just pop one in your mouth.”

Magnus’ eyes creased with amusement. “My pleasure,” he said, chewing thoughtfully.

These wouldn’t really do Magnus any good. Unlike most Supers, Magnus didn’t need to burn much of his own energy to use his power. “What’s it like to be so powerful?” Alec asked. 

Magnus looked at Alec, eyebrows raised. “You tell me. Look at your group project in class, look at your family. You’re a natural leader.”

It was something he’d already hear half a dozen times but was only now beginning to believe. Somehow, it sounded less pitying from Magnus and more like the truth. “So you’re saying I could start my own cult?” Alec joked weakly. 

“Power comes in all kinds of forms, Alexander,” Magnus said. He stepped closer. “Look at the power you have over me.”

Alec laughed nervously because he was a _disaster_ and no boy would ever want to kiss him--

“Do you bake often?” Magnus asked, eyes warm and kind.

“Sometimes,” Alec admitted. “Only when I get stressed.”

“And what have you been stressed about?”

 _Sometimes you just have to do what feels good,_ Alec thought, remembering Jace's earlier words.

Alec took a deep breath. “Well, you see, there’s this guy that I kind of like, and I’m not sure if he likes me back.”

Magnus looked down, biting his lip, and the bottom of Alec’s stomach dropped. “Alec--”

“If it’s no, it’s okay,” Alec hurried to say. He hated, a little, that he had kind of expected this all along.

“I have something to show you,” Magnus said unexpectedly. Oh, god, Alec thought, here was when the other shoe was going to drop. Magnus had a tail, secret tentacles. Four dicks, none of which were interested in Alec _in that way_.

He turned away for a second and when he looked back, his eyes had turned a bright gold with narrow cat-like pupils. “Inherited. A gift from my father, among other things.”

Alec could tell that he was ashamed, but they were, in all honesty, breathtaking. “They’re beautiful,” Alec said. And Magnus _was_ beautiful. Alec was just sorry that it took him so long to tell Magnus.

Magnus took a shuddering breath. “I was a transfer to Sky High last year,” he said.

“I remember,” Alec replied, not having any idea what this had to do with anything.

“I was a transfer from a villain school,” Magnus said. “I was with my father because he was the only one who had eyes like me. Even my mom, she killed herself when she saw my eyes, when she realized what I was. She was right. I've done--" his voice cracked, along with Alec's heart "--terrible things."

Instinctively, Alec reached up to cup Magnus’ cheek, his sharp jaw, and Magnus leaned into the touch like he was starved for it. He probably _was_.

“I think it doesn’t matter where you've been so much as where you want to go,” Alec said finally. His heart ached for Magnus and everything he’d been through, the stories he knew and the thousands he’d had yet to learn. But he knew that the person standing before him now was undoubtedly good. And he knew that he wanted Magnus.

“Can I kiss you?” Magnus asked. 

“I don’t know if I know how to kiss someone,” Alec confessed.

They were so close, he could smell the sweetness on Magnus’ breath, see the tiny veins of brown in his strange golden eyes. “It’s easy. It’s just like falling.’

Well, Alec had certainly done that enough times. He reached forward and kissed Magnus. And god, but Magnus was right. It was like jumping off his family’s shed –- terrifying, dizzying with the utter thrill of the unknown. 

They broke apart, and Alec felt his eyes flutter open. “Hi,” he said softly to Magnus.

Magnus grinned. “Hey.”

And then they kissed again. And again.

And again. 

\---

Alec changed into his clothes for bed, padding to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Sure, he had teenaged acne and couldn’t fly, but it didn’t matter –- he felt like he was floating on air, anyway.

Maryse was sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of tea. It was unusual enough for her to be home on a school day, but she was already dressed for bed in pajamas and her makeup off. Alec rapped on the wall to get her attention and she looked up from her tea, startled. With her hair down and loose about her shoulders, in the dim light from the kitchen, she looked shockingly young. She looked like Izzy.

“Hey, Mom,” Alec said.

“Alec,” she said, looking startled. Her teacup rattled in its saucer.

"Can we talk?"

"Always," she said, patting the space beside her on the couch. Alec crossed the room and sat next to her. He wasn't quite sure how to ask, but he knew he had to. He had to know. "Were you one of Valentine's followers?"

She went pale. “Who told you that?”

“It’s not important.” Alec shook his head. “Is it true?”

“Alec, I love that you have such a clear definition of what’s right and wrong. But some of us aren’t born that way. And the older you get, the more you’ll realize that sometimes the only difference between heroes and villains is intent.”

She looked out the open window where the moon was high in the sky, nearly full. Somewhere out there, Headmaster Garroway was pacing anxiously, waiting to be let free.

"So that's a yes." The room blurred through his tears. He didn't know if he'd ever been so disappointed.

Maryse took a deep breath and set down her teacup. Her hands trembled. “You have to understand that when I met Valentine, I had just graduated from University. My brother had died two years earlier diverting a set of train tracks and saving a bunch of Normies. When they reported on it on the evening news, they didn't even know his _name_. I was so hurt and angry. Then I met Robert, who knew a young man who’d just lost his wife. He was furious, out of his mind with grief, and he said what I was too afraid to. He gave voice to all my secret doubts about how Supers operate. And it was easy to idealize him, to follow him mindlessly. When it hurts to think, it’s too easy to let other people do it for you.”

Alec felt sick. “How could you? He _killed_ people.”

Maryse shrugged sadly. “At first, he lied to us, made it seem like accidents. But by the time we knew better, all of the inner members were in too deep. We’d done – unforgivable things, and we couldn’t go back. At least that’s what I told myself at the time.” She lifted her chin, staring beyond as if she could peer into her past and change it somehow. But life didn’t work like that. “Anyway, I eventually turned on him and anyone that joined me in the revolt got pardoned. By the time it was over, there were too many of us to punish and no one wanted the League's inner secrets getting it.” Maryse looked at him. “It makes me happy to know that you won’t make the same mistakes I did, that you won’t let yourself get so prideful that you’re willing to do what’s easier rather than what’s right.”

The clock ticked on the wall. There was a moment like this in every life, Alec supposed, when the childhood you once knew was over. Where the childhood you once knew, overlaid with a sepia soft focus, changed and became clearer and infinitely sadder and more beautiful when overlaid with the sharp knowledge of adulthood. But nostalgia was like that in a way: you could only reminisce about something once it was over.

Alec swallowed painfully. “What made you change your mind?”

When she turned to him again, there were tears in her eyes. “I found out I was pregnant with you.” She wrapped her arms around him and because it might be his last chance to be held in such a way by his mom, he let her, closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her flowery perfume. Maryse said, “You may not have superpowers, but that day, you saved me.”

\---

The school was abuzz with news of the second tournament. Everywhere he turned, people were taking bets. 

Ahead of him in the hallway, he saw Magnus’ tell-tale clothes. No one dressed quite like him. Alec adjusted his backpack and jogged to catch up. “Are you ready?” he asked when he reached Magnus’ side.

“Sure,” Magnus said, grinning, “ Gonna save me again from more overly competitive students?”

“So sue me, I just want to watch my—my,” Alec fumbled for words. What was Magnus to him? He knew what he wanted, but the more he learned about Magnus, the more he realized how much he had left to learn.

“Your boyfriend?” Magnus supplied, looking shy.

Alec couldn’t help the wide goofy smile that broke out over this face. He pulled Magnus close and kissed him as the sea of students parted around them, damn whoever saw them. Even during that moment, he knew it would be one of the best moments of his life, so he tried to make it last -– to slow down time and savor the moment, to live in it and pack it around himself like a shield against whatever else life held in store for him.

There was a cough behind them, and they sprang apart.

“Gentlemen, I see that you’re very busy but at this time, but are either of you planning to go to class?” Aldertree asked sardonically. He tapped his fingers against his clipboard.

Alec looked around; the hall was empty. When had that happened?

“Yeah,” Alec said, and reluctantly let go of Magnus’ hand. Magnus headed in the opposite direction, still looking back at Alec. He stumbled into a trashcan and righted it, all without taking his eyes off of Alec until he finally turned the corner. 

Alec realized that Aldertree was still staring at him while he loitered in the hall making moon eyes at his boyfriend. Oh god, oh god. _Magnus was his boyfriend_.

“Yeah, class,” Alec said, clearing his throat. “I-I should probably get there.” He headed towards his first class of the day.

He heard Aldertree behind him mutter, “Teenagers.”

\---

He made it through his first three classes and decided he was too nervous to eat lunch. Right after lunch period was the tournament, and Alec thought a workout would do his nerves a world of good. In the weight room, Hodge was talking quietly with Aldertree. When they saw Alec, they stopped. 

“Mr. Lightwood,” Hodge said, “shouldn't you be at lunch? Obviously, because of the tournament, our usual session has been canceled for today.”

“Can’t eat,” Alec said. “Too nervous.”

“Planning how to burn the gym down again?” Aldertree asked. 

“No,” Alec said, coloring slightly. “That was the only time I plan to – er, burn down the gym.”

“Good,” Aldretree said, as he exited the room, “this tournament ought to be exciting enough without you adding to it.”

Alec watched him go, puzzled. He didn’t know why all his teachers had to be so weird. 

“Maybe you should eat lunch,” Hodge said. “It might settle your stomach.”

“No can do,” Alec stubbornly maintained and added 100lbs onto the free weight bar. Hitting the gym in his rare moments of free time had been something he’d taken up n his own. Just because he couldn’t go toe to toe with a Super didn’t mean he needed to make things easy for them. Or well, at least he’d make a pretty corpse. 

“Okay,” Hodge relented. “You need me to spot you?”

“That'd be great,” Alec said, sitting on the bench and leaning back. 

“Let’s start with ten reps,” Hodge said, and they began.

\---

Alec made sure to get to the gym early and to get good seats in the front. He sat his coat and his backpack on either side of him, saving seats for Izzy and Jace. Maia abhorred violent acts when she wasn’t the one committing them with her army of tiny angry begonias and Raphael was probably crouched in the sewer, listening to sad music.

Izzy plopped down next to him, scooting his coat out of the way. He was on the second bench up and she stretched out her legs, shoving them in between two students who turned to give her identical dirty looks. “This is exciting,” she said. “Do you think Magnus is going to be on the winning team?”

“Of course he is, he's the best,” Jace said from Alec’s other side. He winked and held out a fist, which Alec bumped. 

They’d all come a long way this school year, Alec thought. 

The lights in the gym dimmed. In the center, there was a similar setup to last time, but there was two raised dais with a flagpole in the center of each one, and at the top of the flagpole, a white flag. 

“Oooh,” Izzy said, but it sounded off.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, grimacing. “I just haven’t felt well since lunch. I think something I ate disagreed with me.”

“Oh god, you too?” Jace asked. “I think the lunch staff is finally making good on their promise to poison us all.”

In front of them, someone groaned loudly, and to Alec’s left, he saw someone else collapse.

“Alec,” Izzy said, gripping his arm. “Something’s wrong.” She was swaying in her seat, sweat breaking out over her skin. Alec looked around desperately, and everywhere he looked, students were getting sick and collapsing. A few stood to fall only seconds later. Alec pulled out his phone, but there was no signal.

“What the hell is going on?” Alec muttered. On his other side, Jace collapsed on his shoulder, his body a heavy weight. Alec reached over and felt for his pulse – bounding, strong. He stood, clutching a swaying Izzy to his side, desperately scanning the crowd for Magnus. He couldn’t see him anywhere, and he tried to make his way down the bleachers, holding on tight to Izzy and Jace, but he couldn’t possibly make it down with both and he absolutely refused to leave either of them behind. This is what Hodge had meant earlier when he said that Alec was always too distracted.

Speaking of, Alec nearly collapsed with relief when he saw Hodge striding into the gym. “Hodge, something’s going on!” he yelled.

Hodge stepped up the bleachers slowly. He looked unsurprised and a shiver of fear raced up Alec’s spine. There was something terrible about the nonchalant way he made his way through the slumped bodies of Alec’s classmates.

He took a seat in front of Alec, facing him.

“Do you know why superheroes are so dangerous, Mr. Lightwood?” he asked quietly. 

Alec licked his dry lips. Something terrible was happening, but Alec couldn't yet see the shape of it. He clutched Izzy and Jace tighter to his sides. “What did you do?”

“Just a sedative in the school lunch. Nothing permanent.”

Alec had been too nervous to eat, and that was the only thing that had saved him. But Hodge had tried to get him to eat lunch too. Jesus.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Hodge said, his eyes glittering strangely. They had brought back the ring of fire for this tournament and the burning ring circled Hodge’s head like a terrible halo.

“I don’t know why superheroes are dangerous,” Alec said.

“Because they give people hope, hope for a better future, hope for a brighter tomorrow.” He said it with the practiced irony of someone who had given it a great deal of thought, who had read all the pamphlets and wasn't buying the product.

“Yeah, shit, that sounds awful,” Alec replied flatly.

“If we’re always looking towards the future, then it doesn’t matter what we do today. Why should people look to heroes when they can save themselves? Valentine had the right idea: No one is better than another being. The only problem was that he got distracted, made it personal.”

“Personal how?”

“He was trying to save his wife.”

“Who was his wife?” 

Hodge leaned closed and said quietly, “Did you ever wonder why Clary Fray grew up an orphan?”

“No,” Alec said, which was a lie. He’d honestly just assumed it was another part of Clary’s incredibly special origin story and disliked her accordingly, which in retrospect, Alec realized, was a huge dick move. Who was jealous of a goddamn orphan?

“Her father was Valentine and her mother is the angelic core. Every ten years or so, they pick another super with the right powers and use them up to float the school, and when they’re done, they find another and another. I’m exposing your precious heroes for what they really are: monsters who do monstrous things.”

“Maybe,” Alec allowed, “but you don’t get to decide that, no one person does.”

Hodge studied his nails, said almost absently, “The angel core is going to fail in less than five minutes. We’re being humane about it. She won’t feel a thing.”

The angel core was one of those things that they never studied in class, possibly because its origins were _terrible_. Jonathan Shadowhunter was said to be the first super, but there rumors that there had been one earlier and that their powers had been siphoned to create his own. Learning that he could steal another Super's power, he'd created a rudimentary academy for his children, powered by another unfortunate Super. He could see that his ancestors had continued that horrid trend down its inevitable conclusion. Alec regretted that he had never verified that particular rumor until now.

“It's the only thing keeping this school afloat. You’re murdering children,” Alec choked out. There was no reason to sugarcoat it or make it prettier than what it was. One terrible deed did not justify another terrible deed.

“No, Mr. Lightwood, I’m exposing the corruption within our system. I’m showing everyone just how vulnerable we are.” Hodge said with a humorless laugh, “Sometimes regrettable sacrifices must be made.” 

“You’re trying to deliberately start a war because you're bitter that you didn’t get sorted into the hero class?”

“It’s not about super-strength, Mr. Lightwood, it’s about the strength of your convictions. That’s what determines who’s a superhero and who isn’t.”

“Killing a whole school full of children? History isn’t exactly going to paint you as a hero.”

“Maybe so,” Hodge agreed easily, “but the victors write the history.”

There was a bright, manic light in his eyes, and for the first time, Alec felt afraid. Hodge was a true believer; there was no reasoning with him. 

“I am Prometheus," Hodge said, "bringing fire to the people.”

“Whelp,” Alec decided, “you’re really fucking crazy.” He couldn’t believe he couldn’t see it before, but that was how it was sometimes with charismatic people who told you what you wanted to hear. He supposed that was how psychotic leaders rose to power in the first place.

“Maybe,” Hodge agreed in a frighteningly crazy way.

Alec gently laid Izzy and Jace down. Now, the only way to help them was to get the angelic core back online until he could come up with a backup power source. He jerked this thumb towards the doors. “I should probably go check on that angel thing.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Hodge said easily.

Alec pressed his lips together as a cold sweat broke out over his body as he stood up. “Don’t make me fight you.” He had never ever won in a fight against Hodge. This might very well be the last thing he ever did.

“I‘ve finally seen your future, and I know that you fail. In every scenario I see, you fail," Hodge said, standing to match him. "I could make it fast for you. I don’t want you to be afraid or to suffer.”

“You’re so kind,” Alec said sarcastically, scrambling off the bleachers and onto the solid floor.

Maybe that was true, maybe it was Alec’s destiny to fail, but that didn’t mean he was going to lay down and die. That didn’t mean that Alec would let Hodge destroy an entire school full of children even if they did represent a flawed way of life.

“I don’t give a shit what you’ve seen in your crystal ball,” Alec snapped, standing tall, “I don’t believe in destiny.”

“No hero ever does,” Hodge said with a trace of regretful fondness. He faced Alec like he had so many times before when they'd sparred in this exact same spot. “It’s been an honor to be your teacher.”

Oh great. Hodge was definitely going to kill him, but at least he felt _bad_ about it.

“Can’t say the same,” Alec grunted and threw a punch. 

It went wide and Hodge ducked, letting his arm sail over his head and then followed it up with a swift kick to Alec’s knee. Alec had been expecting it and darted out of the way, but it was a feint and Hodge spun around, delivering a sharp punch to Alec’s solar plexus. 

Alec staggered back, trying to keep his balance as he struggled to pull air into his lungs. Christ, this fight was going to be embarrassingly short. 

Alec ditched form and grace and kept his feet moving. The one advantage he had in this fight was longer reach, and he had to keep Hodge from pulling in close. Alec threw another wild punch, mostly to keep Hodge at a distance rather than any hope of connecting but that was a mistake. Hodge stepped in close and wrapped his arm around Alec’s, his other straight under Alec’s forearm, forcing his joints just shy of the point of popping. Alec groaned and pushed forward to relieve the pressure, a move Hodge clearly expected. 

But Alec hadn’t let himself think about what he’d do next. The problem with fighting someone who had the power to see the future was that Hodge knew everything Alec was going to do the moment Alec decided to do it. So Alec didn’t let himself think. The expected movement was to push forward to avoid dislocating your elbow, the body’s natural preservation instinct, but Alec had always had a crappy sense of self-preservation, especially when it came to the people he loved. He shoved back, using his head to connect to Hodge’s chin, putting all his weight and strength behind it. He screamed as he felt his elbow pop out of the joint, muscles and tendons tearing, and Hodge’s hot blood splattering down the back of his neck.

It was as if time itself slowed down: Hodge released his arm and Alec yanked it back, cradling it against his chest and groaning in agony. He used his other arm to elbow Hodge in the throat, who gasped and fell to his knees. The sound thundered in the eerily quiet gym. Hodge slumped sideways, his head bouncing against the floor with a sickening thud.

Alec leaned in close and felt for a pulse. Hodge groaned, eyes still shut.

Alec shook Hodge desperately like he was a rag doll until Hodge’s eyes opened. “When you looked into my future, what did you see?” Alec demanded. He didn’t know why it was so important. 

“Nothing,” Hodge gasped; he grinned, his teeth stained red with blood. “Time had collapsed on itself. There was nothing.”

Alec let his head drop again, unsure what to do with this new information, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He had a school to save.


	6. Chapter 6

Alec skidded through the hall, each step jarring his arm painfully. It was eerie, being the only person conscious in a school that had, less than a half an hour ago, been teeming with life. He’d set his watch to countdown the minutes left and he was too aware of the rolling numbers flashing at him in the darkened hallway.

He nearly peed himself when he saw the figure emerge from around the corner, until he saw who it was. “Thank god,” Alec breathed. “they’ve sedated the whole school.”

“I figured when everyone started collapsing in the gym,” Raphael said. 

“You were there?”

“Sure,” Raphael said with a shrug. “I may be evolving faster than time, but even I haven’t evolved enough to eat the cafeteria food here.” He looked at Alec strangely. “I saw your fight with Hodge. You disappeared for a moment, did you know that?”

He looked at Alec vaguely accusingly, like it was something Alec had done just to disgruntle him. Alec did not know about his little disappearing act, but he hardly had time to dwell on it or the whole school would disappear. Permanently. 

“Did you hear the part where the school’s going down?” Alec nearly yelled. “They’re killing the Angelic core.”

“What the hell is that?”

“You mean, _who_ is that?”

“Gross,” Raphael said. 

“Where’s Maia?” Alec asked, chewing on his lip. He hadn’t seen her in the gym, but that didn’t mean much. He was too busy getting his ass kicked.

Raphael shrugged again. “Who knows? Probably out saving the whales or something,” he said just as the sky split in a terribly familiar way. A second later, Magnus stepped through.

“Magnus!” Alec yelled, and, arm held tight to his chest, threw himself at Magnus, who reflexively caught him. “Magnus, Magnus,” Alec said, his good arm buried in the short bristly hairs at the nape of his neck. Alec kissed his cheek, his jaw, knees weak with relief. 

When Alec stepped away, Magnus’ cheeks were a lovely pink. “I should skip classes more often,” he said. “Hey, what’s up with your arm?”

“Not that I’m not thrilled to see that you’re okay and dying to catch up, but the school is about to fall out of the sky in less than five minutes.”

“I’ve missed something,” Magnus murmured. 

“Can you guys help me get to the angelic core? We have to protect her before she dies.”

“ _She_?”

Raphael snorted. “Do you know what kind of power the angelic core has to contain to keep a school this massive powered for years on end?” He made an exploding motion with his hands. “Think nuclear.”

Alec grit his teeth. “Just because I’m probably not going to succeed doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.”

“Hold on, boy scout,” Raphael said, holding up his hands, “no one said anything about not trying. I’m just saying that you wouldn’t last long. You’d burn up the second you got close.”

Alec shook his head doggedly. If they did nothing, they were as good as dead anyway. “I’ve still got to try.”

“I could portal us all out of here,” Magnus said. “I find falling a thousand feet to our inevitable demise as appealing as anyone, but like, we could be tanning in Aruba in less than a minute.”

Alec bit his lip bloody. It was tempting, the idea of being safe with Magnus, and with a little luck, they might even manage to portal Izzy and Jace, but he would never be able to live with himself if he didn’t at least try to help everyone else. “Take Raphael, get him somewhere safe.”

“Alec--” Magnus said. 

Alec grinned sadly at him. “Work on your tan for me. Don’t let Raphael be too much of a downer.” His chest was tight, thinking of Magnus on a beach without him, golden and in a teeny swimsuit, all the vacations and memories they’d never have. If Magnus stayed just a second longer, Alec would lose his resolve. He placed his palm on Magnus’ chest and pushed. “Go.”

“ _Alexander_ ,” Magnus choked out.

Raphael, who had been studying them both silently, said suddenly, “I’ll go. The energy from the angelic core probably won’t kill me. I’ll just evolve faster.”

“There’s no way,” Alec said, blinking dumbly at him. Surely, there were limits to Raphael’s power. 

“I’m going to be okay,” Raphael assured him, hands tucked into his pockets. He laughed humorlessly. “I’m always okay.”

Magnus was grinning and grabbed Alec’s hand. “That’s our cue to get the hell out of dodge, darling. Mai Tais for everyone.”

Alec resisted him for a moment, mind still working furiously. There was something that was bothering him about this. “You’ll stop aging,” he said even as the thought occurred to him.

“Yeah,” Raphael answered, voice tight. “Lucky I’m so sexy now.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Alec said, voice dropped nearly to a whisper, the horror of it just beginning to dawn on him. If he did this, Raphael would be seventeen forever.

“Would you have done the same for me?”

“Yes,” Alec answered honestly.

“I’ve spent my life cursing my power and getting by,” Raphael replied. But what does it mean if I never do anything with it other than survive? If I never use my power to save my friends?” 

“We’re your friends,” Magnus said, “and we would never ask you to do this for us.”

Raphael scowled. “Who said you were my friend?” He touched Alec’s arm and grinned. “I’m tired of surviving, it’s time for me to really live.”

“I’ll portal you closer to cut down on exposure,” Magnus offered, “after I get Alec out of here.”

Alec shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere without you guys.”

“Alexander,” Magnus said, sounding pained. 

“We don’t have time to argue about this,” Alec said, “so we might as well head to the mechanical lift.”

“No, you really don’t have the time,” a voice rang out clearly in the dark hall. At the end of the long corridor, stood Aldertree.

“Saw that coming,” Raphael said. 

The conversation Alec had interrupted between him and Hodge earlier in the weight room. They’d been planning this, even then.

“Stay out of our way,” Alec said. 

“Or what, Normie?” Aldertree said mockingly, “you’ll destroy me?”

Next to him, Magnus’ fist blazed to life in a crackle of blue flames. “No,” Alec said softly, “but my boyfriend might.”

“My nickname in high school was boomer,” Aldertree said, faux-casually. “Did you know that?”

“Wow, that’s super fascinating,” Raphael said, sounding bored, “but we’ve got an old broad to save, apparently.”

“It’s because,” Aldertree continued, his voice growing in pitch, “I can raise my voice to a sonic boom.”

Alec clapped his hands over his ears as he felt the pressure build with Aldertree’s voice. He realized his feet were sliding backward at the same time that the school groaned and gave a sideways lurch, sending him flying backward along with Magnus and Raphael. He saw the sky at his feet, a clear stretch of blue dotted with fluffy white clouds, and it didn’t make sense for a moment until he realized the windows were located directly beneath them. 

He hit the windows hard enough to make his teeth chatter, and glass went flying out around him like tiny little shooting stars. He was falling, faster than could be believed, faster than he’d fallen for Magnus, and Alec thought, _Whelp, it was a good run_. He closed his eyes and prepared for impact.

–-which never came. A long vine wrapped around his ankle, stopping his fall in mid-air, jerking his entire body backward. The vine continued, wrapping around his midsection and tugging him upwards, back towards the school. He scraped his arm across the broken window, tearing his shirt, and he screamed, doubled over in pain as the cuts welled up and oozed bright red blood. His arm was really getting the shit beat out of it lately. If he survived the day, he was definitely cutting class and going to Aruba with Magnus.

“Maia!” Alec said at the figure lying flat against the wall, vines stretching around her body, wrapped around lockers and anything else to anchor it as the other end pulled him to safety. Alec looked up at the deserted hallway. “Where’s Magnus and Raphael?”

Maia looked up at him, dark eyes wide. “They were here, too?”

Alec’s stomach dropped and plummeted a thousand feet to the earth where his body should have. They were gone. His watch beeped as the timer hit zero.

They were out of time.

His body felt battered, beaten, his arm was on fire and he was pretty sure his leg was broken. With the last of his strength, Alec reached out and took Maia’s hand. They were all that was left and they were going to die.

Alec squeezed his eyes shut and remembered the slow kiss he and Magnus had shared in his kitchen after school; the time they spent stretched out on the table, watching the leaves fall; the first day of class, the nervous excitement, and he just wanted to go back to the beginning – back to when his biggest problem was that he hadn’t manifested any powers.

He remembered sitting outside of his school, Magnus’ hand warm against his neck.

The foundation shuddered, jagged cracks veining across the walls as bits of debris fell from every direction. He felt it cut his face, gritty sediment settle in his hair and clothes. Every window in the school cracked and exploded outward as the pressure built, the school starting its descent.

Alec remembered sitting with Jace during that first night he came to live with them, discussing what family meant; he remembered kissing Izzy on the head last month, and when she was a pink-faced baby, squalling in his mother’s arms. He remembered it all like a glowing tapestry, pictures flying by with no beginning or end, all the more beautiful for how fleeting they were. And time itself felt like a physical thing, a blanket that he could merely unravel if he reached out and took hold of the fragile thread weaving it all together.

“Alec?” Maia yelled through his splitting headache. Her voice sounded so far away. “Alec, what’s wrong you?”

Alec could feel something warm trickling from his nose and he absently reached up to brush it away. When he looked down at his hands, they were smeared with dark red. He could feel the blood vessels in his eyes dilating and exploding, his ears popping, his skin sizzling as he reached out to that thread and _yanked_.

He was aware of the school crumbling around him, the sickening up and down as the school tumbled from the sky. He felt Maia gripping his hand tight, heard her terrified whimpers.

And then there was nothing at all.

\---

\---

\---

Alec boarded the bus nervously, Izzy shoving in close behind him. His stomach gave a displeased little lurch. 

He stopped, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the bus windows. From behind him, Izzy pushed him impatiently again. “Pick a seat, dorkus.” 

Stumbling, Alec slid into a seat in the back next to Jace, and Izzy scooted in next to him, kicking her backpack beneath the seat. The doors closed with a hiss and the bus groaned with the metallic squeal of wheels. Alec looked around at his classmates; most were familiar faces but some were new. The bus pulled onto the street into a line of identical busses. 

"What the hell's going on?" Alec asked hoarsely.

Izzy peered at him, looking worried. "Are you okay? You're not finally having that nervous breakdown, are you?"

The bus made two more stops and then as soon as the doors hissed shut a final time, a lock clicked loudly in place, and the driver announced over the pa system, "Next stop, Sky High Academy! Please keep your hands and feet clear of the aisle. And don’t any of you brats dare think about opening your window unless you can fly! In that case, feel free.”

"Iz," Alec said, grabbing her arm and gripping tight enough to bruise. "What day is it?"

"It's the first day of school," Izzy said, sounding increasingly concerned. 

As the bus took flight, Alec clutched his backpack tight, watching the clouds whizzing by. “Well, shit,” Alec wondered aloud. “What the hell did I _do_?”


	7. Chapter 7

Alec sat in his bus seat, ignoring the idle chatter around him. As soon as the bus pulled in, Alec peeled away from the crowd and powerwalked to Headmaster Garroway’s office. He knocked on the door and didn’t wait for permission to come in. 

Headmaster Garroway sat behind his impressive oak desk, an eyebrow raised as Alec barged in, red-faced and sweating heavily. 

“May I help you, Mr. Lightwood?”

Alec sat in the chair opposite Luke and stared down at the intricate carvings on his desk – some Norse thing, Fenrir, devouring the sun – and he shivered. It was a mistake to come here, he belatedly realized. As much as he liked Luke, Alec didn’t know who he could trust he couldn’t. What did he know about Luke other than he seemed nice, was unfairly handsome, and shared some uncanny abilities with wolves? What if Luke knew all about Hodge?

What if they were working together?

“Uh,” Alec said and shifted in his seat. The leather creaked loudly and Alec mumbled, “That wasn’t me.”

“Did you need something?” Luke tried again.

“I, uh, have some serious misgivings about the quality of lunches at this school,” Alec lied. 

“I'm sorry to hear that,” Luke said, steepling his fingers. It was nice of him to pretend like he cared.

Alec stood up on shaky legs. “So, you should—think about that. Yeah, that’s all.” Alec turned on his heels and hauled ass out of there. 

He was pushing through the bodies in the hallway, looking for Izzy and Jace when someone yelled behind him, “Hey, Boyscout!”

Alec whirled around.

“What did you do?” Raphael asked, shoving his way through the crowd, ignoring the protests. 

Alec watched him silently, heart pounding, and waited until Raphael was nearly nose to nose. Raphael hadn’t started calling him _boy scout_ until about a month ago. “What do you remember?” he asked hoarsely.

Raphael looked at him like Alec had offered him a romantic all-expenses-paid trip to Pamplona to go running with the bulls. “I fell through a skylight in some yuppie-hell loft in midtown, then passed out. When I woke up, I took a cab back to the nearest Sky High pickup, and when I got here, everyone started acting like it was the first day of school.”

“Jesus,” Alec said, grabbing Raphael by the shoulders and checking him over for cuts or broken bones, “are you okay?”

Raphael slapped his hands away. “Oh, yeah. The apartment belonged to an old lady. I told her I was an angel of the Lord and that I needed a dozen roast beef sandwiches.”

Alec laughed. “Man, it’s good to have someone who knows the truth.”

“No, really, what did you do?” Raphael asked. “When I checked my phone, even the time had been changed. You’re the first person I’ve seen that seems to be aware that we’ve mysteriously skipped back half a year.”

Alec scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “I think I maybe kind of rewound time?”

Raphael closed his eyes dramatically. “Of course you did.”

“How come it didn’t affect you?”

Raphael shrugged, and Alec had come to know that the more bored Raphael looked, the more upset he was. It was a damn shame that was a fact he had to learn. “I broke every bone in my body,” Raphael said simply, “probably should have died.”

“I don’t affect you,” Alec said, his voice going sober. They knew that eventually, Raphael would evolve past the clutches of time, but they didn’t know it would be so soon.

Raphael shook his head a little painfully. “Yeah, well. What’s done is done.”

If Alec had just rewound time a little faster, before Raphael had fallen--

As if reading his mind, Raphael said, “You couldn’t have done anything. This isn’t your fault, Alec.”

“It kind of is--”

“Don’t steal other people’s pain,” Raphael interrupted. “Did it ever occur to you that when you assume you should have saved everyone, it minimizes people's roles in their own lives?”

“I’ve never thought of it like that,” Alec admitted. 

“Of course you haven’t,” Raphael said, heading down the hall. “My life kind of sucks. It could be better or it could be worse, but we all feel how we feel. Let me feel it, don’t try to take my pain away from me. Besides, you have plenty of your own.”

Alec jogged to catch up. “So what should we do?”

“Take a minute to mourn.”

“Like there’s been a death?”

“Sure.” Raphael turned the corner and Alec realized he was leading them to first period. The halls had emptied, and it was only them. “It’s the death of a dream that your life would go one particular way.” He looked over at Alec. “That deserves a minute.”

“And what do we do after that?”

“We go on living,” Raphael said simply.

Just before Raphael got to his class, Alec reached out and stopped him with a hand o his elbow. “At least one good thing came from this.”

“What’s that?”

Alec’s mouth twitched. “We’re friends. Maybe even best friends.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Raphael said, slapping a tired hand over his face.

“C’mon, aren’t we friends?”

“I guess,” Raphael said grudgingly.

“Then can you help me save the school?”

Raphael sighed again. “I guess walked right into that one.”

\---

Alec had not gone to first period. In fact, he had texted Izzy and Jace to skip class as well and meet him behind the cafeteria dumpsters where the stoners and fire starters hung out when they were up to no good. Alec shivered at the thought of inhabiting the same space as such _unruly children_.

Thankfully, it was the first day of school and the troublemakers had not found this hiding place yet, so Alec was the only troublemaker in sight. He had just finished explaining everything to Izzy, and as usual, her sharp mind had latched onto the least important and most confusing details.

“Does it affect you on a molecular level? Can you reverse cellular damage? In theory, you could live forever,” Izzy said excitedly. “God, Alec, this is so _fascinating_.”

“I legit have no clue,” Alec said truthfully. He hadn’t even given any serious thought to it other than the singular panicked screech of his brain as he realized he had _reversed the world about six months,_ give or take.

“I need to know more!” Izzy said. Her eyes were wide, fevered with science.

Just then, Jace joined them by the dumpsters.

“Hey, Jace,” Alec called out. “I can control time.”

“Yeah?” Jace said, shifting his backpack. His steps faltered for a half a second until he resumed his pace. “Cool beans.”

“We can’t trust the teachers,” Alec told them both. He was certain he could trust his mom, but could he trust anyone she would want to tell? They were on their own. “All we can trust is ourselves.”

“What can we do? We’re kids, Alec,” Izzy said gravely. 

“Someone needs to catch me up,” Jace interjected.

“I’ll tell you more when we meet up with some other friends,” Alec told them both. He appreciated the fact that they only looked marginally surprised to learn that he also had friends.

Jace grinned lopsidedly. “Can’t wait. But one thing I do know is that you’re definitely going to be sorted into the supers class today.”

“I don’t care,” Alec said and he was surprised to find that he meant it. It didn’t matter and it never did.

\---

It was Raphael’s idea that he approach Maia, since they grew up together, and Alec was to bring Izzy, Jace, and Clary on board. They needed people they could trust, but they had to be careful about what they could divulge. That was the problem with thwarting someone who could see the future and was generally nosy as fuck.

What had confused Hodge in the past – er, future – about Alec’s possibilities was that time seemed like a kaleidoscope to him. The best that Alec could figure was that each time he sped up and slowed down time, it fractured the current timeline, which made it difficult for Hodge to read. And looking back, it was apparent to Alec that he’d been messing with time for a while now. All the occurrences when time seemed to slow down or when Alec wished for something to be over and he ended up at home with no idea how he got there – or having a panic attack outside of the school, blinking up into the bright sunlight. These spells were generally followed by Alec consuming an enormous portion of food, which should have either been his first, second, or third tater-tot sized clue. But it was hard to see what wasn’t expected and it was only in hindsight that he could see what he hadn’t been able to before. It had been like putting a puzzle together without knowing what the end product should look like and missing half the pieces.

Still, it was undecided who should approach Magnus.

As Alec walked down the hall, the bell rang and he glanced down at his watch and realized it was time for lunch. It seemed absurd to sit down and eat square pizza like nothing at all had happened, like the foundations of his life hadn’t been completely decimated in the last twenty-four hours, but there was Izzy, Jace, and Clary sitting together at their usual table. And at the far end of the cafeteria, sat Magnus. Alec swallowed around the lump in his throat at seeing Magnus, whole and healthy and beautiful. He didn’t know Alec just yet, but Alec already loved him. 

With trepidation, Alec approached the table where Magnus sat alone, ignoring the pointed stares of his classmates. He had already done this once but he hadn’t been this nervous, probably because at the time, he hadn’t realized how much Magnus would come to mean to him. How much it would hurt to lose him.

And that was the thing about adjusting time, it was never so simple as just going back. Because things could never unfold in exactly the same way again. A butterfly beat its winds in a different pattern, and it caused a tornado. People weren’t finite, predictable in their responses. Some things were 50/50 in how they’d go and Alec couldn’t make dice fall in a particular way any more than he could control a butterfly across the ocean. He could always make things worse, and that wasn’t a responsibility to be taken lightly.

He sat down heavily, the thought of years to come weighing on him like a physical thing. By the time this school year was done, he would already be six months older than everyone else. The time might eventually come when he would be a hundred years older.

“What can I do for you, prom king?” Magnus said, thrusting his chin out, dark eyes glinting.

 _You don’t have to hide from me,_ Alec thought, a little sad.

“Quit that,” Alec said. “I’m not fooled by your self-defensive bullshit.”

Magnus rocked back a little, blinking at him from across the table, holding his garlic bread in mid-air. The first time they had eaten together, the cafeteria had served pizza. When he’d been talking to Izzy and Jace outside, they’d been blocking the loading dock without realizing it. The truck had gone around and delivered the food at the side door. Obviously, the delay had been enough that the menu was changed. 

Another butterfly beating its wings.

“You are not what I expected,” Magnus said faintly,

“I get that a lot,” Alec said, drumming his fingers against the table. “Can I tell you a story?”

Magnus sat down his bread and made a motion for Alec to continue.

“There was once a lonely boy,” Alec began, "he transferred here for Villain school, and he thought everyone despised him. He was wrong, of course, but it took a while for this other boy to convince him. Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of time now.”

Magnus’ shoulders were tense, his lips thin. His eyes darted around the cafeteria and Alec had never realized, in the early days of getting to know Magnus, just how scared and young he had looked. “How the _hell_ do you know all that about me?”

“Do you believe in going back in time?”

Magnus took a ragged breath, no doubt thinking about his mother. “I believe that we would like to.”

He wanted to believe Alec; his whole body was strained forward, his eyes searching, lonely. He wanted something that he did not even have a name for, let alone how to ask for it. It made Alec physically ache to see how much he wanted to believe. It was “Would you believe that in the future, I’ll eventually love you?”

This was the moment, Alec realized. The moment he fell in love with Magnus was when Hodge saw his future disappear. No matter what timeline, in what universe, falling in love with Magnus propelled the direction of his life, set his course in stone toward whatever end.

Magnus' face did something complicated; it seemed to crumple in on itself as he closed his eyes, his hands flat against the table. “You don’t know all the things I’ve--”

Alec laid his hands over Magnus’, felt them tremble beneath his. “I knew all of your secrets, and I loved you anyway.”

Magnus looked up at Alec like he was afraid of the answer, but was compelled to ask anyway. Alec suppressed a sad smile – that was his Magnus, always brave. “And now?”

The Magnus that was, was not the same Magnus that would be; that Magnus would never be again, but this was still the boy he loved, the insecure boy on the cusp of being a man with too many secrets, and no one to help him carry his burdens. 

“And now,” Alec said, remembering Raphael’s earlier words, “we go on living.”

Magnus studied Alec’s hands on top of his own, looking terrified and awed. “Let’s get out of here,” Magnus suggested eventually. His food tray sat forgotten at the edge of the table. Alec still kind of wanted to eat it. Magnus stood abruptly. “Okay, uh -- we should talk.” 

“Look,” Alec said, following Magnus’ lead as they left the cafeteria, “we can go to the closet.”

“Pardon?”

“I-I--” Alec stuttered, his cheeks heating as he realized exactly how that sounded.

“What do we get up to in the closet?”

“Just portaling, I swear!” Alec yelped.

Magnus looked Alec up and down. “Hmm,” he said doubtfully. “If you say so.”

“We can go back to my house and talk some more.” He stopped abruptly, his sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. “Oh, I forgot, there’s a meeting later about saving the school.”

“Excuse me?” Magnus said.

“Yeah,” Alec said, shrugging, embarrassed. “It’s kind of a funny story, actually.”

\---

“Wait, so Hodge is evil?” Jace asked. 

They had arranged themselves in a lazy semi-circle on the bleachers out by the football field. At this time of the day, it was deserted. All decent folks were in class, where they _should_ be. Would be, if all their teachers weren’t presumably evil.

Alec kept speeding up and slowing down time to keep Hodge off his ass. He felt as if his stomach were trying to eat itself. As soon as he got home, he was going to start on his sweet and salty balls again, the best thing the future held as far as he was concerned.

“I’m not sure evil is the right word,” Alec said. What he had learned was that anyone could seem evil if framed in the right way, just as any sacrifice could seem righteous. It was up to each individual where they drew the line between right and wrong and that line would never be the same for all people.

“Dude wants to crash the school,” Jace said. “He’s as crazy as a sandwich made of soup. And I always knew Aldertree was evil. No one _good_ wears shorts that short.”

“Do we actually have a plan?” Izzy asked, pointedly ignoring Jace.

“That’s kind of what you’re here for,” Alec admitted. He had an idea of what they needed to do: free Jocelyn, figure out who could be trusted and who couldn’t be, save the school. It was a lot, and he preferred not to think too hard about it.

“Well, I guess I’m in,” Izzy said as if she had ever considered another option.

“What did Hodge say before?” Maia asked, peering up at him. “You said that you fought him and that he saw your future.”

Alec watched a leaf fall off a nearby tree, its lazy descent to the ground. This was where Raphael revealed his awful powers to Alec. Already, things were different. “He said I was destined to fail.”

“Oh, well, that’s reassuring,” Maia said.

Alec stood up. He wasn’t one for big speeches, but he had something to say, something they needed to hear. “The only destiny I believe in is the destiny we make for ourselves,” Alec said, meeting each of their eyes. Alec looked around his ragtag group. Maybe Hodge was right and it was futile, maybe they were destined to fail. There was no map for where they were going, no rulebook to guide them. But he had his good intentions, a little bit of courage, and he had his friends. And Alec really and truly finally understood one important fact: anyone that tried against stacked odds was a goddamn hero. Living required courage and loving even more so. Hodge was right about one thing – heroes lost all the time, but they kept getting back up, kept starting over. Every person that got up in the morning and lived was a hero to someone. 

“We’ve got a job to do,” Alec said, “and it’s not because we’re heroes or sidekicks or whatever. It’s because we’re humans and it’s our obligation to try to help others. We have to _try_.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Maia said. “That works for me.”

“Well, you already know I’m in,” Jace said. 

“Thank you,” Clary said, tears in her eyes. Out of all of them, she had the most to lose. 

Alec looked at Magnus, the odd man out in their group. He sat a little further back, on a higher seat, half out of their circle. “Well?”Alec stepped forward and held out a hand to Magnus, inviting him to join.

“I’m not looking for a sidekick,” Magnus said finally and Alec’s heart sank. This was not your Magnus, Alec tried to remind himself. Without their history--

Magnus stood up and took Alec’s outstretched hand. “But I could use a partner.”

Alec stared down at their intertwined hands and grinned. Last time, he had tried to save the school alone. He wouldn't be making that mistake again. He looked back up at the rest of the group and said, “Come on, guys. We’ve got a school to save.”


	8. epilogue

Alec sat on a bench, sipping his coffee and watching Magnus fight Doctor Doom in the middle of the abandoned park.

Earlier when they’d gotten the call about the public disturbance, Alec had said mildly, “I do not believe that man is a real doctor.”

Magnus had kissed him anyway and said, “He might be. All the crazy ones usually are.”

He took another sip of his coffee and froze it in place, leaving it hovering just to the left of his hand, rising steam pausing in midair. It would still be nice and warm for him when he was ready to finish it. 

With a lazy wave of his hand, Alec slowed down Doctor Doom. The air shimmered around him and he slowed to a molasses crawl, eyes wide. Magnus looked around wildly, then spotted Alec and shot him a grateful grin before opening a portal behind Doctor Doom and kicking him unceremoniously through it. 

Alec generally let Magnus do the fighting. He was perfectly capable and liked the workout besides. Said it gave him that fabulous ass and Alec couldn't particularly disagree. But Alec always watched the fights from afar, letting people do what they would unless it looked like they were in trouble, and then Alec would step in, not unlike a shepherd tending to his flock.

While he wasn't hiding his powers, he didn't want the general public to be aware of them either. He found his powers frightened people. They were too large, too complicated, nothing that people could see or prove or control, so he gratefully stayed out of the spotlight. But Magnus was font and center, loud and proud. He was the public face of their group, brought together that one day nearly a decade ago when they'd hovered on the bleachers and decided how to save an entire school

They had eventually told Luke, on the advice of Clary, who said he’d used to be nearly a father figure to her. As it turned out, Luke knew and was working on freeing Jocelyn all along. It was why he had taken the position as headmaster in the first place. He eventually brought in Maryse, who had not been pleased to find out her very own children hadn’t trusted her enough to inform her that they were planning to overthrow the current governing body of Supers. Together, they rooted out sympathizers in the League, and of the ones left, they combed through the teachers and students at Sky High. It didn’t hurt that they had a member that could literally taste lies on the air.

“How did you know?” Hodge had sat back his desk, surrounded by members of the League, there to arrest Hodge for conspiracy to commit murder. That’s all they had on him; it wasn’t like he had already committed the crime and Alec had strong feelings about arresting someone for something they _might_ do. That came dangerously close to thought-policing. Hodge looked squarely at Alec. “Are you like me?”

It had bothered Alec, to see the hope on his face, but Alec shook his head. “I’m nothing like you.”

Hodge and Valentine hadn’t been wrong – their way of living was flawed and untenable, but neither could they spring their whole way of life onto Normies. Something had to change and Alec thought if Hodge had been offered other choices, maybe if life had been a little kinder, then things could have gone differently for him. 

In the end, Hodge had made his choices and he had live with them, even if he lived in the bowels of an unnamed prison for Supers guarded by the terrifying Silent Brothers.

But Alec had wanted to offer the Supers of tomorrow a different choice. 

Sky High was eventually disbanded and Alec opened the Institute a few months later. It wasn’t meant to be a school, it was more a safe haven for the Supers that didn’t have enough control over their powers to go to a public school. Or for those that were too young and born to Normie parents that were in over their heads. But it had turned into a boarding house school scenario and Alec had to hire teachers and eventually, he found himself being referred to as Headmaster or Professor. 

The school wasn’t a secret; they had even offered to let reporters in and tour the place. Total secrecy had not done their society any favors before. But still, they hid some of the most powerful Supers, himself included. Slowly, they were changing hearts and minds, and Alec had faith that the day would come when they could all live their lives out in the open. A time when, regardless of power, they could step into the sun and be seen for who they were, not what they could do. He had a feeling that day was coming sooner rather than later.

Jocelyn was set free. She didn’t live long beyond being disconnected from Sky High, but at least Clary got to say goodbye. And she got closure. She didn’t have to spend the rest of her life wondering what happened to her mother. 

She was the first teacher Alec hired at The Institute.

Just then, Magnus sauntered up to him, dusting off his suit jacket. “Long day at work?”

“No longer than yours, I’d say,” Alec said, taking in his disheveled state. His jacket was still smoking at the shoulder and Magnus gave it a careless little pat.

“Thanks for the assist,” Magnus said, grinning down at him.

“No problem,” Alec said, standing. He dropped a quick kiss across Magnus’ sooty mouth. Married for five years, Alec thought, and kissing Magnus was still the best part of every day. 

“Hey,” Magnus said softly when they parted. His eyes still crinkled at the corners when he smiled and Alec reached up, touching them with the pad of his thumb.

“Hi,” Alec replied.

Magnus blinked, looking around. Now that the danger was over, reporters would be showing up soon, hoping to get an interview and candids of Magnus to sell later. _People_ magazine had named him one of the 50 Most Beautiful People of the year, a fact that Magnus had not been able to shut up about for the past six months. When Alec asked him to do laundry when he got home, Magnus would huff, “Really? Aren’t I too beautiful to do laundry?”

“We should probably get out of here,” Alec said a little regretfully, staring at the singed spot where Magnus had opened up a portal to a hell dimension just a few minutes ago.

“I have a lovely sparkling Lambrusco at home that’ll pair nicely with greasy Chinese takeout.” Magnus stepped back and waved his hands in a complicated pattern. Before them, the sky shimmered and then a swirling dark portal opened up. “Ready to go home?” Magnus asked.

“That sounds...super,” Alec said, grinning and following him close behind, stepping through the portal together. Just like always.

A second before the portal closed, Alec said, “Ah, shit,” and reached through, grabbing his coffee, then disappeared into thin air.


End file.
